Peter's Gardening Tips for November

Wow! What an Awesome Autumn!!
The colours on the trees and shrubs.
The berries - Hollies, Mountain Ash (Sorbus) and Cotoneaster and many more are absolutely covered with food for the birds.
The nuts are huge – acorns, sweet chestnuts - and they hurt if you accidentally get hit by one!!!
The remarkable weather continues for 2018. In southern England the ground is still dry when you dig a hole for planting and some ponds still haven’t filled up yet! I can’t remember an autumn so dry…
There is so much to do at this time of year – the dry weather has meant being able to dig/rotovate on the allotment, spread compost/mulch and plant bulbs, scarify the lawns, finish pruning Wisteria – which have continued to grow!

I’ve been applying fertiliser to the lawns, planting up winter tubs with colour, cutting back some herbaceous plants, pruning climbing roses, cutting out old flowered stems and tying in new replacement stems.  Also pruning some plants partially to stop wind rock, bush roses, buddleia etc.

Then there are the leaves to collect off lawns, which I also blow under trees and shrubs to breakdown naturally – great for wildlife and invertebrates.  The blackbirds get in amongst them flicking them to and fro looking for worms.  

Composted leaves are free and a valuable source of organic matter which makes a great mulch – leaf mould.  To help accelerate the composting process, add in Vitax Compost Maker.  Either bag up the leaves into black bin bags and puncture holes in them or make a compost bin out of pallets, or a chicken wire cage. Shredding leaves with you mower also speeds up the process.

The last week has seen some sharp frosts so make sure you protect plants with fleece – bananas, lantana, tender fuchsias and many more will need moving into a frost-free greenhouse.  

It’s also time to lift dahlia tubers if you are in a frost pocket or have heavy wet ground.  Although some gardeners leave them in the ground, covering the tubers with a mulch of compost or straw, and hope they survive!

Now is the time to dig up and move evergreen plants if they are in the wrong place.  Azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, conifers that are not too big, can be moved. 

Conifers which are approximately 90cms wide or as much tall, need to be dug up with a good sized rootball. If you can manage, 30cm away from the trunk and a spades depth is ideal.  Add Vitax Conifer and Shrub Fertiliser or Q4 Rootmore to the bottom of the planting hole or the soluble version which can be watered in after moving plants or planting new shrubs, trees or roses. Remember to thoroughly water/soak after and keep moist. Wind can very quickly dry plants out!

Fruit trees – If you have had trouble with maggots in your apples and pears this year then it’s time to apply Vitax Tree Bands to the trunk of the trees and the stake or cane supporting the tree too.  You can also use Fruit Tree Grease as another alternative which you brush on around the stem or trunk.  This prevents the wingless female moths climbing the tree to lay their eggs which hatch out and live inside the fruit.

If you are planning to have sweet peas for next year, now is the time to sow them.  A fabulous selection is available from Kings Seeds, also Suttons, Thompson & Morgan and Pennard Plants too.  

Use a good quality seed compost to start them off with and bring the compost into the house to warm up.  Sow your seeds into Vitax Grow Tubes.  These are bio-degradable so you plant the whole tube in the ground next spring.  The tubes promote long roots which sweet peas, beans, peas and leeks all need to produce a deep root run. Sow now for the earlier sweet peas or you can sow next March.  The scent of sweet peas is a must in any garden!

Hedging plants – If you are thinking of planting a hedge this month you can get bare-root plants such as Beech, Hazel, Hornbeam, Field Maple, Hawthorn, Dog Rose, or rootballed such as Laurels, Yews, Portuguese Laurel, Western Red Cedar. These are far cheaper than buying in pots.  Bare-root or rootballed plants are only available from now until March.  Any plants purchased must be planted immediately or heeled into a temporary trench of soil before planting into their final position.  DO NOT allow the roots to dry out or get frosted!!  Once again, I’d use Vitax Q4 Rootmore in the planting hole prior to planting.

There is so much to do this month, so here are a few more jobs…..

1. Treat lawns for moss, it’s your last chance.
2. Raise the cutting deck on mowers – do not cut grass too short at this time of year.
3. Clean the mower deck underneath before putting away. It rusts the deck.
4. Cover ponds with netting to collect leaves - leave a shallow area uncovered for birds to drink from and possibly a hedgehog.
5. Plant garlic cloves, break up the bulb and plant individually 10-15cms apart and 5cms deep in the ground.
6. Cut down asparagus plants to ground level.  Apply a generous mulch of compost over the crowns.
7. Plant broad bean and meteor peas for early crops next year if your ground isn’t too wet?
8. Continue to dig over roughly on the allotment. If you have a heavy soil apply Vitax Clay Breaker and any compost for the worms to help break up the soil.
9. Make plans for next year, what to grow and where - at home or at the allotment.
10. Order seed catalogues or go on-line if the weather is awful. Armchair Gardening! 

If it is dry, sunny, cold and crisp go for a walk and kick a few leaves!  Enjoy the colours and don’t forget to clean bird baths and feeders.

Happy Gardening

Peter 

About Peter Mills:

Peter has over 35 years’ experience in horticulture working in garden centres before becoming a radio gardening presenter with BBC Radio Southern Counties. Working as a freelance consultant, Peter works with the RHS as an external advisor as well as trouble-shooting many gardening-related problems for a range of clients. A regular blogger for silversurfers.com, Peter provides ‘Top Ten Tips’ each month for VGW readers.