170 SUGGESTIONS FOR GARDEN WORK BY MONTHS 



Tomato vines loaded with green fruit may be pulled and hung in 

 the shade to ripen their fruits. Green tomatoes may be ripened 

 off the vines if they are fully grown. 



Give the asparagus bed good attention this month. Mow the 

 tops and let them be piled on the compost heap. Give the beds a 

 heavy coat of barnyard manure to help the growth next spring. 

 If this coating is several inches thick the new shoots will come 

 through it and be large, long, well blanched, and tender. If you 

 wish to transplant asparagus roots, this is probably the best time 

 to do it. Rhubarb roots may also be transplanted now. If you 

 are going to grow some cabbage, cauliflower and celery in cold 

 frames, have the plants ready and set them now if possible. They 

 like the cool weather of November and will thrive if the ground 

 does not freeze in the bed. 



You may yet plant onion sets but they may need protection of 

 leaves or other litter when the severe winter weather is on. Lettuce, 

 spinach, kale, and similar hardy plants may be stored in the hot 

 bed or coldframe this month. They can be transplanted later to 

 the hotbed as the winter weather becomes severe. 



Give the whole garden a general cleaning up after the first heavy 

 frosts are over and the tender plants are through their work. 

 (Fig. 98). Trellis stakes from beans and tomatoes may be tied in 

 bundles and stored for next year. No litter should be burned. 

 Keep it in a compost to rot and make humus for next year. Rye 

 may be sown in November as a winter cover crop on all bare spots 

 in the garden. 



Flowers. — Late this month sow seeds of sweet peas to remain 

 dormant until spring. If they are planted six or eight inches deep 

 they are not likely to sprout this fall. Make plantings of hyacinth, 

 narcissus and tulip bulbs. These will not start this fall but will be 

 ready for early spring blooming. 



Protect the late flowering plants out of doors on frosty nights. 

 Keep them beautiful out of doors as long as you can. 



DECEMBER 



Vegetables. — This is probably the best time to harvest the late 

 garden vegetables such as Irish potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, 

 the main crop of celery, etc. Store them for winter use. Put 

 cabbage heads with their roots upward in rows two or three layers 

 deep and cover with soil about the time the ground freezes. Cover 



