Here is your gardener’s to-do list for November, 2025 across the United States

Here is your gardener’s to-do list for November, 2025, across the United States—a month of deepening quiet, where the garden exhales and folds in on itself. November calls for tucking things in, protecting roots, and preparing the soul (and soil) for winter’s long sleep.

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Northeast

• 🌷 Last Call for Bulbs: Get tulips, daffodils, and garlic in before the ground freezes.

• 🍂 Mulch Deeply: Add a thick layer over perennial beds, roses, and root crops.

• 🧤 Protect Trees: Wrap young trunks to guard against frost cracking and animal damage.

• 🪣 Drain Tools and Hoses: Store all irrigation materials to prevent freeze damage.

• 🍁 Leave the Leaves: Rake excess, but let some stay for overwintering pollinators.

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Midwest

• 🧄 Finish Garlic Planting: If the ground isn’t frozen, there’s still time.

• 🧹 Clean Beds: Remove debris to prevent overwintering pests and disease.

• 🛡️ Mulch and Cover: Add mulch to beds and cover crops on vegetable plots.

• 🧊 Winterize: Drain hoses, insulate spigots, and store containers.

• 🧰 Tool Care: Sharpen, clean, and oil tools for winter storage.

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Southeast

• 🥬 Fall Veggies: Keep planting and harvesting greens, carrots, turnips, and onions.

• 🌼 Fresh Flowers: Pansies, violas, and dianthus can still go in.

• 🍂 Rake and Compost: Use fallen leaves as mulch or compost them for next year.

• 🐞 Pest Watch: Aphids and cabbage loopers may still lurk—stay alert.

• 🌿 Divide Perennials: Now’s a fine time to divide daylilies, hostas, and iris.

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Southwest

• 🧄 Plant Garlic and Onions: Cool temps make now ideal for root crops.

• 🌸 Plant Flowers: Sow poppies, larkspur, calendula, and wildflowers.

• 🌵 Care for Cactus: Protect tender succulents from early frost with frost cloths.

• 🧹 Clean Beds: Remove spent summer growth and compost healthy remains.

• 🧤 Water Wisely: Cut back irrigation but don’t let roots go bone-dry.

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Pacific Northwest

• 🧄 Get Garlic In: Plant hardneck garlic before the soil hardens.

• 🌾 Mulch Beds: Use leaves and straw to insulate perennials and vegetable beds.

• 🌧️ Check Drainage: Clear gutters and ensure garden beds don’t flood in heavy rain.

• 🧤 Store Tubers: Dahlia, canna, and gladiolus tubers should be dug, dried, and stored.

• 🌿 Cover Crops: Sow if you haven’t yet—rye, clover, and vetch enrich soil.

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Mountain West

• ❄️ Winterize Everything: Beds, trees, hoses, irrigation—batten down the hatches.

• 🧄 Plant Garlic: As long as soil is workable, it's not too late.

• 🌿 Mulch and Cover: Protect any overwintering crops or perennials.

• 🧹 Tidy Up: Compost leaves, pull spent plants, store tools.

• 🪵 Protect Evergreens: Water them well and consider windbreaks in exposed areas.

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California

• 🥬 Cool Season Crops: Keep planting lettuce, spinach, broccoli, and root veggies.

• 🌸 Fall Flowers: Sow sweet peas, Iceland poppies, and stock.

• 🧼 Clean Up Beds: Remove dying summer plants; freshen mulch.

• 🌱 Compost: Build piles with leaves, straw, and garden waste.

• 🌧️ Prepare for Rains: Repair drainage, clear gutters, and store tools out of the weather.

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November in the garden is not lifeless—it’s restful. It's a time for reflection, stewardship, and preparation. A good gardener in November thinks not only of survival, but of resurrection come spring. And that, my friend, is hope with dirt under its nails.