November garden tips

1. Create Thanksgiving porch displays with potted mums, crotons and pumpkins.

2. Plant these vegetables in November says LSU AgCenter: shallots, Swiss chard, kale, carrots, mustard, turnips, spinach and radishes. Plant beets and garlic early in the month.

3. Plant trees and shrubs so they can get a good root system started before next summer’s heat.

4. Get your soil tested in the fall, says LSU AgCenter. Akin’s has the kits available to be completed and mailed to the AgCenter.

5. Continue planting cool-season color, such as pansies, violas, dianthus, alyssum, cyclamen, stock, candytuft, ornamental cabbage and kale and snapdragons. Refresh your beds first with Vital Earth compost and Fertilome Bedding Plant Food.

6. Sow seeds of larkspur, sweet pea, poppy and bluebonnet for spring bloom.

7. Purchase spring bulbs and begin planting daffodils. Tulips and hyacinth bulbs must be refrigerated for six to eight weeks before being planted in November/December, but be careful about their fridge partners. Some varieties of fruit emit a gas that will kill a bulb's flower bud.

8. Dig and divide crowded perennials, such as daylilies, phlox, coreopsis, daisies and irises early in the month.

9. Build a compost bin or set aside an area for a compost pile. You’ll have plenty of fall leaves soon to fill it.

10. Watch for chinch bug damage in lawns. Symptoms are irregular patches of dead grass surrounded by yellowing grass. Treat with Hi-Yield Bug Blaster.

11. Water trees and shrubs with berries if the weather is dry. Lack of moisture can cause the berries to drop.

12. Cut back perennials that have finished blooming for a tidy appearance.

13. Spray trees affected by scale insects with Hi-Yield Systemic Insect Spray.

14. Irrigate lawns, landscape and garden beds, including newly planted trees and shrubs, in the absence of rain.

15. Watch the lawn for signs of brown patch, which often shows up during cool, wet weather. If it occurs, treat with Fertilome F-Stop.