November in the Garden Portugal

This is what we are doing in November on our farm in central Portugal.

Planting seeds into seed trays

Right now, according to seed packets, almost nothing. But we go for one more round of winter vegetables. Sometimes they do OK, sometimes they don’t. But we want to grow food and it’s worth the gamble for us.

• Your favourite brassicas: cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, whichever ones you like
• Onions – certain types
• Beets
• Any of the below that I have put for direct planting in the ground
• Voles? Sometimes when I plant organic beans in the ground they all get eaten by voles. So I have two choices: plant in seed trays instead and transplant, or buy ones covered in chemicals so the voles don’t eat them. Well, I prefer to plant in the ground and have them not get eaten. Is anyone an expert at preventing voles from eating bean seeds? Which beans to plant? See below.

Direct Planting in the ground

• Garlic – Get this in the ground early in November. Remember to only plant from the biggest bulbs, but don’t plant them all, just plant the biggest cloves.
• They say it’s a bit late for winter greens but we do one last round in November. Sometimes they do well and sometimes they don’t, depending on the weather. We are gardeners, we kill plants, but we’ve got to eat!
  • Coriander
  • Dill
  • Spinach
  • Butterfly spinach
  • New Zealand spinach
  • Parsley
• Beans. Only two types of beans you can plant now, so plant loads of them! These are fine if you haven’t planted yet. You can plant them all winter, but they are best planted in early September. Ours already have flowers! Ideally I would do a round in September and another round now.
  • Fava beans (broad beans)
  • Peas
• Roots
  • Carrots – for sure
  • Beets and turnips – usually do fine now (seed packets say it’s too late). The observant ones would have noticed I put this to plant in seed trays. Some of you prefer to direct plant, some prefer to plant in trays, so it’s up to you. Never done it before? Don’t have a method? Try both and work out what works for you.
• Radishes

Transplanting into the ground

All your winter veg, get your last round in now!

• Cabbages – This is the ideal time for Galaga, walking stick cabbage. Last round of broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and head cabbage for the year.
• Beetroots
• Kohlrabi – this is a brassica but in my planning it’s classified as a root!
• Onions – not everyone does it now but I get them to grow, just make sure it’s winter varieties
• Leeks – Also not usual for now but I still get them to grow

Other garden tasks