As falling leaves smother fruit and veg crops, it’s a lovely time of year for quick outdoor jobs.

There are broad bean seeds to push in this month for a earlier crop in 2013. Although wait until February if your soil is already sodden. Read more growing tips here and visit the Organic Gardening Catalogue to admire their tempting varieties.

Garlic is worth reaching for your coat this month. They like the winter cold to properly develop next year. Select varieties for UK growing, splitting bulbs into individual ‘cloves’ for planting. Read more growing tips here.

What else?

Indoors, pea shoots are magic, where young seedlings on windowsills offer a nutritious snack from a small compost-filled tray. Read top tips here from our Master Gardener Alice.

And it’s a great time for seed sprouts such as mung bean and alfalfa. In a matter of days, damp seeds in a room-temperature jar offer delicious sandwich and stir-fry fillers. Read about seed sprouts here (links opens PDF).

Autumn cold protection: race against time.

What else  to do in the garden now: Garden Organic Guide.

November summary (links open PDFs)

Plant	Sow broad beans and garlic. Lettuce (under protection like cloches). Fruit trees and bushes. Read Garden Organic’s free fruit manual here.
Grow	Insulate greenhouse and polytunnels from frost with bubble plastic. Stake Brussels sprouts and kale; pull up soil around stems to lesson ‘wind-rock’. Protect cauliflowers by snapping and folding leaves over flower heads (‘curds’). Prune black and redcurrants and gooseberry bushes. Use suitable prunings as hardwood cuttings. Click here for how… Put out food and water for birds. Read more here with RSPB.
Eat	Annual spinach, Brussels sprouts, winter and savoy cabbage, Jerusalem artichoke, kohl rabi, leaf beet, leek, lettuce, parsnip, salsify, swede, turnip.
Others	Drop hints for gardening vouchers as Christmas presents from friends and family.

Since the odd weather continues, my October summary too (links open PDFs)

Plant	In mild regions, sow broad beans, plant garlic, bulb onion, rhubarb. Indoors, sow radish, autumn and winter salad, pea.
Grow	Collect fallen leaves to rot down to make ‘leafmould’. Click here for instructions… Cut fruited canes of hybrid berries to ground level. Read Garden Organic’s free fruit manual here. Cover bean plants with horticultural fleece to extend cropping.
Eat	Beetroot, carrot, Chiness cabbage, cauliflower, celery, kohl rabi, leaf beet. Parsnip and Brussels sprouts after frosty weather has improved flavour.
Others	What are you still eating? Email me here to let me know!

Garden Organic’s growing resources

Click here to discover unusual crops

Step by step growing activities…

Become a Garden Organic member…

Lively growing blogs by volunteer Master Gardeners:
Coventry & Warwickshire, North London, South London, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire

Article by Philip Turvil