November Garden Tasks by Zone

Updated What to do in the garden in November depends on your USDA zone. In zones 3 to 5, the hard freeze has passed and the work is protecting plants and closing down. See how to protect plants from frost and when to stop mowing in fall. In zones 6 to 8, it is the last call for garlic, bulbs and cover crops. In zones 9 to 11, November is main planting season. Pick your zone for a checklist from university extension sources.

• Zones 3 and 4: after the hard freeze: protect strawberries and young trees, dormant-seed the lawn, clean up. Zone 3 November tasks · Zone 4 November tasks
• Zone 5: last tasks before the soil freezes: bulbs, perennial cutback, winter mulch. Zone 5 November tasks
• Zone 6: last call for garlic, tulips and winter rye, then winter mulch. Zone 6 November tasks
• Zone 7: garlic through mid-November, spring bulbs, winter rye, mulch after the hard freeze. Zone 7 November tasks
• Zone 8: garlic, onion sets, peas, daffodils and cover crops; cold protection. Zone 8 November tasks
• Zone 9: cool-season planting season, with Texas, Florida, California and Arizona lists. Zone 9 November tasks
• Zone 10: main planting season; frost in some years only. Zone 10 November tasks
• Zone 11: frost-free main planting season (short list). Zone 10 November tasks (nearest to zone 11)

Indoors: for Christmas blooms, pot amaryllis by about Nov. 13 and start paperwhites from about Nov. 20 to Dec. 4. See when to plant paperwhites and amaryllis.

The zone checklists draw on: UMN Extension, Yard and Garden Checklist: November; Iowa State Extension, Fall Garden Tasks; Penn State Extension, Tips for Planting Cover Crops in Home Gardens; University of Maryland Extension, November Gardening Tips and Tasks; Clemson HGIC, Planning a Garden (Table 1); Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Travis County, November Gardening Checklist; UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions, What to Plant by Month; UC Master Gardeners of Orange County, November Garden Guide; University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, November Monthly Reminders (Pima County Master Gardeners).

Weed timing on each zone checklist is approximate, based on your zone’s typical frost date. Don’t know your zone? Enter your ZIP code.

Lawn and weeds: when to stop mowing, whether weed killer still works in late fall and winter, and whether it’s too late to plant grass seed.

Shrubs and leftovers: is butterfly bush invasive, leftover peony planting, and whether to prune hydrangeas in fall.