November has been a “no gardening” month for me. Unlike the past couple of years, the cold came early this year, and there’s not much that can be done outside. During the beginning of November, there were still a couple of nice days, but I caught a nasty ear infection, well actually an infection of both ears, and I was in the bed for 10 days.

Of course, this means that I haven’t done anything in the garden. The beds are exactly where I’ve left them during October, I haven’t finished with the digging or the cabbage harvest.

When I finally started to feel better, the cold and wet period came, and there’s again no chance of gardening. The rain, 130 liters, which we got during the past 10 days of November, soaked the soil and made it impossible to enter the garden. The first snow also didn’t help, and the garden has been unreachable. 

After the rain period, we got the frost period and temperatures are now dropping under -5°C (23°F), which means there will be no more digging as the soil is just too hard and frozen. Luckily most of the garden is done and I can easily finish the two beds during the spring. Years like this are the reason why I always prepare the garden for winter during October, there’s just no certainty that I will be able to get to the garden during November and December, also for some crazy reason I’m always sick during November and I just completely forget about my garden in November and December. My gardening season lasts from February till October and that’s it. 

Hopefully, the rest of December will be a bit warmer, or this will be one of those years when we get lost in the snow and end up frozen until the middle of March.