Winter prep: Pete Harcom has your November garden tasks including planting trees, caring for tender plants, composting and providing food for birds
Even in the colder days of November there can still be colour in the garden – mahonia, winter honeysuckle and Viburnum bodnantense are just a few plants that will provide colour and fragrance for winter days.
- Jobs for November:
- At the beginning of the month there is still time to plant trees and shrubs while the soil still has some warmth. This is also the last chance to get your bulbs,including tulips, in.
- Protect tender plants such as hardy fuchsias, pelargoniums, phormiums, cordylines and tree ferns with horticultural fleece.
- Clear away faded and dying climbers such as sweet peas from their supports.
- Fallen leaves can be cleared up – if bagged up into plastic bags and left for a year, they will rot down to a very good mulch.
- Turn the compost heap and cover it to retain the heat and help the creation of compost.
- Try to leave many of the seed heads of plants such as rudbeckia, sea holly (Eryngium), teasels, love-in-a-mist, ornamental grasses etc as these can all provide valuable food for birds through the winter months. Cut the old seed heads in spring, when the new growth appears.
- Any alpines planted in the garden can have a gravel mulch – if they are in containers they will benefit from bringing into the greenhouse for the winter.
- Acers are a particularly good show at this time of year with their autumn colours, and now’s a good time to add one to your garden. They can be planted in the ground or pots during November, and will enjoy a sheltered, semi-shady spot.
- Sow seeds such as sweet peas, Ajuga reptans, cornflowers, Astrantias, Corydalis solida and Allium sphaerocephalon – just a few that can be sown now in a cold greenhouse. Eryngiums are particularly attractive in the garden – and can be sown now. They can take a while to germinate, but they are worth it, and as a bonus are attractive to bees.
- Don’t forget to feed the birds – and ensure the feeders are cleaned regularly. Make sure food is taken or removed so that it does not build up and go stale or mouldy in the feeders.
- After all that is done, have a cup of tea and browse through your seed and garden catalogues and plan for next year!
