The days may be shorter and evenings in the garden curtailed, but November in the garden still brings a blaze of colour from berries, colourful foliage and bright winter stems. No matter what the weather it is always good to get out into the gardens and there are plenty of jobs to keep us busy planting, clearing and cultivating - all preparing the garden for the spring to come.
Collect Leaves
If leaves are left to rot down on the lawn mould may grow underneath and the layer of leaves will cause damage to the grass below. Use a rake, broom or leaf blower to remove the leaves that have fallen on lawns and paths. Collect them and mix into your compost heap or store in bags to make leaf mould which is a fantastic mulch or top dressing for beds and borders. Before collecting you can spread them out with a rake and run a mower over them with the blades on a high setting to break the leaves down and accelerate the process.
Net ponds to prevent leaves falling in and polluting the water.
Finish clearing crops
Pull out the final remains of the summer's crop outdoors and dig over the soil - chillies, beans and even tomatoes may still be cropping in the greenhouse, but fruit is unlikely to ripen now and left will be a magnet for overwintering pests and fungal rots so they're better put on the compost heap.
Pick leaves and dropped fruit from the soil and sweep up the debris from pots and grow bags - old potting compost can be usefully added to the compost heap.
Clean out any containers that have been used for growing veg and store them away ready for the spring growing season.
Test your soils pH balance
Measure the pH of your soil with a home test kit - it's useful to know the pH for new borders so you can choose plants that are suited to your type of soil and mean your plants will thrive and put on a good display.
It's also worth checking the Kitchen Garden if regularly add plant material or fertilisers which can change the pH of the soil - Take soil samples from just below the soil surface at rooting level.
Start off Tulip bulbs
Now is a good time to plant Tulip bulbs because they need a cold period to develop strong roots before they go into growth and flower next spring.
In borders plant the bulbs at least 10 cm apart - in pots they can be crowded in for a temporary display but they should be planted out deeper and given more space next year.
Buy bulbs with the biggest girth measurement for the best quality flowers. Look for firm bulbs with the brown sheath intact around 12cms in circumference and reject any that are showing signs of mould.
Plant tulips in holes that measure two to three times the depth of the bulb itself - especially important for the permanent planting of species tulips that need to perform in the same spot each year.
To stop squirrels from stealing your tulip bulbs put net over borders or chicken wire over newly planted containers - remove the netting and wire once you see the green shoots starting to appear.
Pick Brussels sprouts
Pick the sweetest sprouts right after the first frosts - early varieties can be picked before this but the main harvesting season starts this month. The tops of the plants are edible too and can be cooked like cabbage.
Top Tip: Use netting to protect your crop from hungry pigeons!
Harvest the last apples
It's time to pick the last of your apples. Bring them in and go through each one looking for damage fruit - only select perfect fruits for storing somewhere cool and dark - They will last longer when wrapped individually in paper.
Use all the blemished fruits as soon as possible - late ripening apples tend to have firm flesh which is great for cooking so use them in crumble or cook them and freeze the pulp.
Check stored potatoes
Go through the tubers looking for wet or rotten ones - dry off the rest and put them into paper or hessian sack and exclude light.
Re pot mint and bring indoors
Mint is a vigorous plant and can quickly get very pot bound so now is a good time to re pot it to improve the foliage for picking. Knock the plant out of its pot and split it with a knife into manageable sections - Vigoroot Planters are ideal for herbs and make it easy to move them around throughout the year.
Plant the new sections into large pots using a compost mixture of equal parts loam based potting and multi-purpose compost. Firm plants down into the pot then water well and give them plenty of light.
Give herbs shelter
Move pots of herbs into a more sheltered position to maintain the quality of foliage allowing you to pick them as for as long as possible.
Evergreen Sage, Thyme and Rosemary grow well in containers with the added advantage that they easy to move around and parsley grows well over winter too whereas those that are not fully hardy such as Lemon Verbena will benefit from a little protection from frost - Easy Fleece Jackets are a simple and effective way to protect individual plants in their pots.
Make a shelter for bugs
Collect garden debris such as twigs from prunings, fir cones and hollow stems from perennial flowers, plus soft bricks or stones with fissures and use them to create bug shelters - put them in boxes bottles or tie them into bundles. It's a great opportunity to get creative in the garden.
Shelters can be placed on the ground tucked into hedges or tide onto low branches as long as the site is sheltered you'll have provided safe winter homes for beneficial ground beetles, lacewings, ladybirds, solitary bees, hover-flies and many others.
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