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Winter is just around the corner, but there are still a few jobs to do before you put your garden to bed.
Plants and Flowers
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- There is still time to plant tulip bulbs, daffodil bulbs and other spring flowering bulbs now. For more bulb planting tips take a look at our ‘How to grow bulbs’ article.
- Lift your Dahlia tubers, Gladiolus corms and Begonia tubers and store them somewhere dry, cool but frost-free for the winter.
- There is still time to lift and divide your herbaceous perennials provided the soil isn’t waterlogged or frozen. Read our ‘How to grow perennial plants’ article to find out more about dividing perennial plants.
Fruit and Veg
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- Continue to plant garlic now whilst the soil is still workable. If you don’t have the space for growing garlic at the moment consider spring-planting garlic or growing garlic in containers.
- Raspberry canes can be planted any time between now and March, provided the soil isn’t frozen or waterlogged. Plant raspberries in a sunny or semi-shaded position on rich fertile soil for bumper crops.
Trees, Shrubs and Grasses
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- You can start to prune your apple trees and pear trees as soon as they become dormant. Leave plum trees, cherry trees and apricot trees until next summer as winter pruning leaves them susceptible to silver leaf disease.
Garden Maintenance
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- Improve your soil whilst it is still workable by forking in lots of organic matter such as manure, compost or recycled green waste.
- Collect any fallen leaves, particularly from your roses as diseases such as blackspot and rust will over-winter in this debris. Don’t compost diseased leaves – add them to normal household waste.
- Protect your half-hardy plants by packing the crown with shredded paper or straw and securing it in place with a layer of horticultural fleece or hessian sacks. Alternatively bring your plants into a greenhouse or conservatory.
- Install compost bins in your garden and fill with autumn leaves, dead plant material and woody prunings. Make sure you layer these plant materials with grass clippings or vegetable kitchen waste to aid the composting process.
- Check around the base of bonfires before lighting them just in case hedgehogs and other wildlife are sheltering there.
- Insulate your your greenhouse with bubble wrap to reduce heat loss over winter. Wrap permanent containers in bubble wrap and move them to a sheltered spot in the garden.
What’s your favourite job to do in the garden in November? Let us know in the comments below, or share them with us over on our Facebook page.
Can loganberries be treated the same way as raspberries?
Yes that’s right! Treat them the same way as summer fruiting Raspberries
Heartfelt thanks for taking the trouble
When should I prune my grape vine also my blackberry
For Grapes, you should train the stems onto trellis throughout summer to achieve the desired size and shape. Prune grapevines in winter to maintain a compact plant.
You Blackberries can be pruned in autumn. Prune the canes which have fruited over summer to ground level. Canes which have not fruited should be ‘tied in’ to their supports. In spring, while the ground is moist, apply a mulch of well rotted manure or garden compost to the base of the canes. This will help to retain moisture throughout the summer.
Hope that helps
re. ‘Move tender plants into the greenhouse/conservatory. to avoid frost’
Beyond shaking, brushing, checking under the pots etc. What can be done to limit the wildlife entering the house , or roaming in, my ‘corridor’ conservatory adjoining the small house.
Garden friends, as well as the less welcome, inadvertently ride on pots being moved from low temperature danger though as much as possible is left protected outside. These hitchhikers find their demise in drier, warmer areas/on carpets etc. while leaving unwelcome deposits and trails – not just a winter problem but also happens when switching pots via the shorter house route between front and back gardens.
Other pot occupants eg. greenfly move to the tempting indoor plants and crevices to cause havoc in spring I don’t have space for a greenhouse and want the ‘conservatory’ to benefit from some house warmth for as long I can bear it’s extra coldness.
Any tips? Thank you
I have 2 Hibiscus plants, I had them in large pots for 3 years then moved them into the garden but after 2 more years they still do not flower what can I do to encourage flowering..?
Hello. Its worth giving them a feed in the spring when they start into growth. If they are growing well and making lots of foliage and stems then switch to a potassium rich feed which will help to encourage flower bud formation.