November in the garden can be a chilly month but sunny days with all the autumn hues on the trees and shrubs are a fantastic time to really appreciate your garden.
The main job for this month is to keep clearing the leaves off the lawn and border this is a never ending job and i have cleared the garden one day and its knee deep in leaves again the next morning (sole destroying).
Other important jobs for this month include:-
1, Last plantings of spring bulbs including tulips and lillys. Lillys if planted in pots can be forced early into flower in the greenhouse or conservatory or will flower naturally in the summer if planted in the border.
2, Plant winter bedding including winter pansy, Wallflowers,violla, bellis and forget me nots to give some colour during those gloomy winter days to come and then burst forth with a riot of colour in the spring.Watch out for blackspot and downy mildew on pansy and wallflowers spraying as soon as you see any signs of small black spots or a hint of purple velvet on the underside of the leaves
3, Cut back herbaceous perennials which have finished flowering including asters , rudbeckia, chelone , astile etc all except penstemon which benefit from keeping their structure untill spring as it helps protect the plant through the winter. This is also a good time to be lifting and dividing herbaceous and lifting and storing dahlias, Cannas and tuberous begonias giving a dusting with sulphur to help prevent rots.
4, Apply an Autumn mulch to the border to help protect some of the more tender perennials including agapanthus , kniphofia and phygellius and it will also improve the soil structure.
5, Raise containers off the ground with feet to help with drainage so they dont get waterlogged during the winter which will help kill the plants and will also cause the pot to shatter when it freezes.
6, Prune climbing roses and lightly prune shrub roses to help prevent wind rock they can then be prunned again in early spring.
7, Continue planting trees and shrubs , but now is the time to buy or plant bare root material epecially hedging as this is a very short season as the plant starts to go dormant and before the weather becomes too bad to allow planting. Great time for planting privet, beech,hawthorn and blackthorn. Always make sure trees are staked well as the wind will cause the roots to become disturbed and kill the tree and dont forget the rabbit guards to keep them off that lovely fresh bark.
8, With Fruit trees apply grease bands to stop winter moth damage and keep you trees healthy
9, Cover winter vegetables especially brassicas with netting to prevent damage from Pidgeons
10, Continue weeding and hoeing the borders in these mild spell weeds will continue to grow and it will make life so much easier in the spring when everything comes into life and there is so much to do . Hoeing will also help improve the soil structure and help with drainage.
11, Continue mowing lawns , the grass will carry on growing untill the weather becomes really coldbut make sure the cutting height is about 1.5 inches alittle bit higher than the summer cut and make sure the mower is cleaned well before it is put away. You never know when it will be the last cut of the season and the grass and mud left on and around the blades will attack the metal , unleaded petrol should also be drained out as it doesnt keep and can give problems with starting next season
12, Use Autumn Lawnfood to ecourage strong healthy roots which contains pottasium and phosphorous and encourage hardiness and root growth.
Happy Gardening see you next Month.
If you have any tips or advice for gardeners in Solihull drop us a line at solihull@thebestof.co.uk
regards John
