Welcome to Gardening Tips a monthly feature providing you with hints and ideas of what to do each month in your garden. Along with a list of jobs that will enable you to enjoy and maintain your garden I will also feature a plant of the month. I have been a gardener for many years and run a small business called Pauls Garden Services.
What to do in your garden in November
The name ‘November’ is believed to derive from ‘novem’ which is the Latin for the number ‘nine’. In the ancient Roman calendar November was the ninth month after March. As part of the seasonal calendar November is the time of the ‘Snow Moon’ according to Pagan beliefs and the period described as the ‘Moon of the Falling Leaves’.November is a good month for planting shrubs and trees. This is because you will cause less stress to a plant to move it when it is not in fruit or full flower, when it is dormant . You can normally put away your lawn mower this month as plants and grass enter a state of dormancy when temperatures fall below 6c (43f).
Pauls Jobs for the Month
Garden Maintenancel
– Clear fallen leaves from your garden lawn and pathways. Leaves left on a lawn for a few weeks will starve the grass of light and will lead to bare patches. Use the leaves to make a leafmould.
– With the likelihood of wet and windy weather to come now is the time to do a garden check. By this I mean be prepared for any potential problems that might be caused by the weather by:- checking your fence posts to ensure they are not at the point of rotting off, sheds and gates have proper locks and latches , plant stakes are firmly in the ground are still supporting plants and outdoor taps are properly lagged.
– Remove unwanted ivy from trees. Left unchecked it can soon smother a tree.
Vegetable and Fruit Garden
– For an early crop of broad beans next May plant seeds this month.
– Stop winter moth damage to fruit trees using grease bands around the trunks
Flower Garden
– Plant out roses making sure you fill the hole with a mixture of bone meal and peat
– When the leaves drop off your shrubs you can take hard wood cuttings of many plants such as :- dogwoods, buddleia, forsythia, kerria, philadelphus, weigela, berberis and pyracantha . Cut just above a bud of a healthy stem of about 8 inches, remove any side shoots and large leaves, dip in hormone rooting powder and plant in pots or in a sheltered area of your garden.
– Now is the time to plant bare root plants. Or if you have been considering moving a plant now is the time to do this.
– Tidy up your perennials. Dead stems can be cut away, any leaves removed give the bare areas a fork over and then spread a mulch of compost or manure.
– Now is the time to dig up your dahlia bulbs. gently remove dirt from the tubers cut back all of the growth and then store over winter in a dry, frost free place in compost.
PAULS PLANT OF THE MONTH – Bergeni
Bergenia are mostly clump forming plants with evergreen, leathery-looking largely rounded leaves leading to them commonly being called Elephants Ears.If you are looking for a truly low maintenance plant with all year round interest then Bergenia could be your answer. Good in sun or part shade there are many different species and flower colours. Some species of Bergenia change leaf colour from green in summer to purple, crimson or ruby in winter. Remove old foliage as it turns brown so plants look tidy and give them a mulch annually.
E. burygardener@talktalk.net T. 07952 938010
