10 Gardening Activities for November in the Midwest

1. Leaf Cleanup 101

Fallen leaves make great mulch in garden beds. In many beds, you can simply let leaves stay wherever they fall. The layer of leaves will help insulate roots, restore nutrients to the soil, and provide habitat for beneficial insects. If you have areas of lawn where leaves are too abundant, mow with a mulching lawn mower or rake and shred using a leaf mulcher. Apply leaf mulch to planting beds or add it to the compost pile. Make sure leaves are not piled up against structures or in large piles, since that can attract pests such as rodents.

2. Don’t Cut Back Perennials

Flowering perennials and ornamental grasses are beautiful in the winter too, as their tawny colors showcase the changing season. Seed heads also provide food for birds and will attract wildlife to your garden. In late winter or early spring just before the growing season begins, mow or cut back perennials. This will renew the plants before their growing season, and you’ll have just a short period of empty planting beds.

3. Collect Seeds

Don’t miss an opportunity to collect seeds from your favorite perennials, annuals, and biennials. If you’ve never saved seeds before, The Seed Savers Exchange has resources to learn more about getting started and tips for success. You can also watch Charles Dowding’s video on saving seeds from edible crops or the Royal Horticultural Society’s video on saving seeds from flowering perennials such as agastache. When starting to save seeds, it’s best to start with easy varieties. For flowers, annuals are often the easiest because they typically produce many seeds each year. Plants like marigolds, poppies, larkspur, sunflowers, morning glory, nasturtium, and snapdragons are all easy flower seeds to save. For edible crops, start with lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, peas, and beans. For perennials, start with agastache, allium, astrantia, cosmos, scabiosa, nigella, and echinacea. If you’re looking for a deep dive into seed saving, get one of these books: The Seed Garden from Seed Saver’s Exchange or The Complete Guide to Saving Seeds by Robert Gough and Cheryl Moore-Gough.

4. Prepare New Planting Beds

Autumn is a great time of year to prepare new areas for planting next spring. Add a thick layer of compost to garden beds (roughly 4 to 6 inches). If you have very compacted soils or heavy clay soils, it helps to open up existing soil so compost, air, and water can penetrate the surface. Use a shovel or broadfork to loosen hardpan soil so that roots and nutrients reach well into the soil layers.

5. Clean, Refurbish & Store Garden Tools

As the gardening season comes to a close, plan a time to clean, refurbish, and properly store your garden tools. A good annual maintenance routine is essential to keeping your tools working properly and looking great. First, clean tools with metal parts (shovels, spades, trowels, pruners, shears, etc.) with a wire brush and metal oil. Next, sand any wood handles that are rough or splintering. Once smooth, apply a layer of linseed oil with a cloth rag (this will help protect wood handles from the elements). Then lubricate snips, pruners, shears, and loppers. Ensure they are functioning properly. You can also sharpen blades using a file and disinfect blades using rubbing alcohol (it’s actually a good idea to do this after each use instead of just one time a year). This will ensure clean cuts and prevent the spread of disease. Store tools in a dry location. Learn more about garden tool care & maintenance.

6. Prepare Water Lines for Freezes

Before hard freezes begin, disconnect garden hoses, empty and store small fountains, and have irrigation lines blown out for winter. Taking these steps before freezing temperatures begin will help prevent damage to water lines and other garden elements. To winterize irrigation systems you need to remove all the water that’s in existing irrigation lines. This can be done by hiring a professional or learning to do it yourself. Watch this video to find out what's involved in winterizing irrigation lines.

7. Continue Watering Until the Ground Freezes

To make sure your trees and shrubs have ample moisture through the winter, continue watering until the ground is completely frozen. Though above-ground growth often ceases around this time of year, root growth below ground continues. It’s especially important for evergreens, which need to sustain leaves all winter long. You should also give any new plants extra water. If you’ve already winterized your irrigation systems, deep water your plants by hand or with soaker nozzles roughly once per week. Read this in-depth article from Proven Winners about fall watering and why it’s important.

8. Pick an Off-Season Project (or Two!)

You’ll probably be spending less time working in the garden from now through the end of winter, so now’s the time to plan and start a garden project. This could include anything from adding arbors to building raised beds. There are resources online that show how to build various garden elements such as raised beds or arbors. If you’d rather buy kits or premade garden elements, there’s a good selection at Gardener’s Supply Company: raised bed kits, assembly-only arbors. Completing these types of projects now means that when spring comes you can jump right into planting.

9. Order Seed Catalogs

Seed catalogs are one of the most exciting things for gardeners to receive in the mail! There’s nothing quite like looking through beautiful photos of plants, discovering new introductions, and selecting varieties of flowers and edible crops to try next season. Make sure you’re getting catalogs or at least looking online at some of the best seed providers: Johnny's Selected Seeds, Burpee, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Renee's Garden, Floret, Seed Savers Exchange, Territorial Seed, Botanical Interests.

10. Catch a Glimpse of Fall Color

There’s still time to get out and see the trees changing color. Gardeners appreciate the change of the season, and picking a spot to see the gorgeous leaves turning every shade of red, orange, and yellow can have a restorative effect after a long season in the garden. U.S. News & World Report has a nice list of locations to see great fall color in the Midwest. Pick a spot or two, and hit the road.