Sarah O'Neil: November is a waiting game

Welcome to the 'hungry months', where the stores from the previous season have been eaten and the new crops are still a while off. Pic Getty.

Up until now there have been months and months of activity and we find ourselves in late spring. Even in the cold of winter there is the anticipation for the conditions to become ideal for growing again, with much planning and dreaming going on. It is an exciting time, as the imagined garden is always perfect and there is the expectation that the conditions of the coming season will, of course, be ideal.

Spring finally arrives, and it is all hands on deck, sowing seeds and clearing weeds. The work indoors with the seeds is miraculous as tiny plants emerge from what appears to be dead specks.

But as with the demands of a newborn, they are constantly checked and have their needs met — warmth, moisture and plenty of light.

Nervous gardeners hover to ensure the plant grows healthily.

Meanwhile in the garden, the work is more physical and demanding, digging and weeding in bracing conditions.

The end of the day leaves you exhausted. But the reward comes from seeing a clean and clear earth emerge from a sea of unruly greenery that will soon be home to the tiny seedlings growing indoors.

With each turn of the shovel you can almost taste that first tomato and it spurs you on.

Finally, in mid-spring we get the all-clear to plant out the garden as the risk of frost is no longer with us. Once again there is a flurry of activity as we create support structures to allow our plants to climb or sprawl across the garden in the ways that best suit them. And then we lovingly set our plants into the well-prepared earth and stand back and admire all we have done as we shake the dirt from our hands.

The garden has been planted and it looks just how we imagined it in the winter.

And then we find ourselves in this strange month, November.

In this late-spring month there isn't all that much to do. There are no seedlings to tend to — they are all in the garden and doing a marvellous job of growing on their own. There are barely any weeds, because the ground was cleared earlier. There is nothing to dig.

Even going to the garden centre loses a little of its joy, as there is no spare ground left for exciting new purchases. The temptation and plant-gathering frenzy of the past few months has all but died.

The plants themselves are a long way from becoming harvestable, so there isn't a lot to be eaten.

This time of year can often be referred to as the 'hungry months', where the stores from the previous season have been eaten and the new crops are still a while off. This is often why produce at the store is so expensive right now, it is the wrong season for pumpkins and capsicums, and any left or grown come at a cost.

It's easy to lose interest in the garden at this time of year, especially as activities for the festive season begin to creep in, and the garden can begin to suffer.

But all is not lost. During this time, you can reach for your packets of seeds again as some crops are a once-only deal and once eaten are gone. However, if you plant more every 3-4 weeks, you will have a continual supply. This is most common with salad crops, spring onions, beetroot and carrots.

While the garden is currently in a weed-free state, it won't stay like that for long as nature hates bare earth and they will soon turn up. Make a point of checking weekly, and remove any you see.

It is much better to tackle them while they are small, so they won't compete with your plants. Or you could apply a generous helping of mulch.

●Sarah O'Neil is an author, blogger and passionate gardener writing about the trials and tribulations of growing food for her family. Her books The Good Life and Play in the Garden and the recently released Growing Vegetables are available at all good bookstores. sarahthegardener.co.nz