Shorter days and cooler temperatures make November one of the best months for gardening, a 'second spring'; make good use of them. Nurseries will still have bulbs, cool season flowers, vegetables, shrubs and trees to plant now. Think Thanksgiving and Christmas in your purchases and buy for crafts if you are 'crafty'.
For your own enjoyment, and for lovely gifts, force bulbs of crocus, daffodils, Dutch iris, hyacinths and tulips. These need a chilling period between 30 and 50 degrees; for tulips, 12 to 14 weeks, for daffodils and iris, 10 to 12 weeks and hyacinths 6 to 10 weeks. The best place to put bulbs for cooling is in the refrigerator - here's where an extra one comes in handy. Plant them in pots with a drainage holes in moist (not wet) fast draining potting soil or a bulb mix. Barely cover the tips with mix or leave them just exposed - enclose pots in plastic bags punched with a few holes and place in refrigerator. For successive plantings, store other bulbs in refrigerator drawers.
Overseed Bermuda lawns with annual or perennial rye grass if you like a nice green lawn all winter. Annual rye grass is cheaper but needs more frequent mowing, stains clothes and is coarse-textured. Sow 10 to 20 pounds over 1,000 feet of very low mowed Bermuda. Keep moist until seedlings are ½ inch high and feed with a fertilizer containing nitrate such as ammonium nitrate a month later. Mow rye grass to 1 ½ to 2 inches and water regularly when it doesn't rain.
As temperatures drop, citrus need less water. Reduce irrigation to a deep watering every three to four weeks (every two weeks in sandy soil). Be sure to water out to the drip line of the tree; if you use a hose, build a basin two feet beyond the tree's drip line then run the water slowly into it, filling it several times. To protect young citrus against winter cold (yes, it will actually get cold, eventually), wrap trunks with multiple layers of rags, burlap, or a commercial tree wrap. Pick up fallen fruit to discourage pests.
Fertilize deciduous fruit trees November through January, one application per month. Use ammonium sulfate or ammonium phosphate; for trees less than four years old, apply ½ pound per tree per month. For four to six-year-old apricot, cherry, pear, and plum trees, use 2 pounds. Use 2 ½ pounds for apples and peaches. For older trees, apply 3 ½ pounds per application (Use 5 pounds for apples and cherries).
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