NOW'S THE TIME TO DO NEEDED GARDEN CHORES.

Byline: JANE GATES Gardening

SANTA CLARITA - Here we are in November. Again.

And just when you think the summer is ending, surprise, it's time for the holidays. It's also a great time to get out and work in the garden.

Harvesting, shopping, pruning, weeding, adding compost, mulching and planting are all on the docket. Cleanup is becoming more important this month as the brown leaves start to accumulate. Dead leaves from plants that grow from bulbs and corms should be taken up with a gentle but quick jerk so the top comes away cleanly, leaving the bulb undisturbed in the ground.

Die-back and loose leaves are best cleaned up before the insects and their young use them for over-wintering - not to mention mice, rats and other undesirable garden interlopers.

Composting is the best way to take care of this material as it saves you the effort of putting out and retrieving trash barrels and rewards you with piles of nutritious compost in the spring and summer.

The soil in Santa Clarita is not so bad as you might think. In fact, it drains far better than soil in many locations in Southern California. Santa Clarita soil has sand, clay and lots and lots of stones and rocks. Much of the latter material should be removed and used decoratively, or practically, for dry riverbeds, walls, lining for troughs to deter water run-off, drainage ditches and more.

What our soil needs most is the addition of organic materials. Since we don't have a lush canopy of green over our hillsides, the amount of organic matter built up over years has been scarce. Amending the soil with manure, peat and compost makes it a fine soil for growing things. Adding the peat and other organics can also help to lessen the effect of the region's hard water.

Just a note for those of you who have installed water-softening systems: Make sure you don't use that softened water through a tap that connects outside through your kitchen. Watering your garden with softened water adds lethal salt to your plants so it will prove to be very expensive.

Compost is the most economic way to get all these benefits, and most of us produce more than enough waste material to create compost sufficient to supply all the amendments our gardens need.

This is also a good time of year to fix those things you noticed earlier in the season. The smaller plants being crowded out by more energetic growers can be moved to better positions. Overenthusiastic growers can be cut back and any weeds pulled, so your plants can set those final seeds for next spring.

Unless your summer vegetables are still cropping strong, there is no point in using up garden space with plants that will not improve. Pull them and prepare the soil for a winter vegetable garden. You can start plants from seed or buy your favorites at nurseries and home supply stores. Onion sets (small onions grown from seed) can be planted now, too. You can also plant them from seeds since onion fly is not a major problem in this area.

Winter is a great time for planting. Check out other edible and decorative plants in the stores and you can plan on keeping active with a rewarding garden this autumn and winter.