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It’s getting colder and wetter as we draw into November. Trees are putting on their autumn displays and winter stems start to come into their own. As autumn turns to winter, your main jobs in the garden are mostly about protecting plants and structures from the wilder weather to come.
There’s still sowing and growing to do this month to keep the garden ticking over. Here is a list of the top jobs to do in the garden during the month:
JOBS FOR THE MONTH:
Fruit and veg
- Take cuttings of shrubby herbs, such as rosemary, lemon verbena and thyme
- Remove large fruits on fig trees that have failed to ripen, leaving pea-sized fruits to develop for harvesting next year
- Sow green manure, such as winter rye, rather than leaving soil bare over winter
- Cover salad plants with cloches to prolong cropping
- Keep sowing batches of hardy broad beans and peas outdoors for early crops next year
- Plant garlic cloves in a sunny well-drained spot, 15cm apart, with their tip 5cm below the surface
- Finish picking runner beans and French beans, but leave a few pods to ripen fully, so you can save the seeds
- Cut down the ferny shoots of asparagus to soil level once they’ve turned yellow, then add to the compost bin
- Divide large clumps of herbs, such as chives, lemon balm and marjoram, then replant or share with friends
- Wrap grease bands around the trunks of apple, pear, cherry and plum trees to trap the crawling female winter moth
- Clear away old crops, so they can’t harbour pests and diseases on the veg plot through the winter
- Cut fruited stems of blackberries and autumn raspberries down to the ground
- Order bare-root fruit trees and bushes for planting from late autumn to early spring
- Plant out spring cabbages
Flowers
- Plant drifts of spring bulbs informally in a lawn, including crocuses, daffodils and fritillaries
- Lift tender cannas to avoid frost damage, dry off the tubers and store in cool dark conditions until spring
- Plant up cheery pot displays with winter colour, such as heathers, cyclamen, winter pansies and skimmia.
- Lift and pot up tender perennials, such as chocolate cosmos, gazanias and coleus, to protect over winter
- Plant evergreen shrubs and conifer hedges while the soil is still warm
- Remove any pot saucers and raise pots up onto feet to prevent waterlogging over winter
- Move deciduous shrubs that are in the wrong place or have outgrown their current position
- Wrap layers of fleece or straw around banana plants and tree ferns to protect from winter frosts
- Collect seeds from hardy perennials, such as astrantia, achillea and red valerian, and sow straight away
- Take hardwood cuttings from ornamental trees and shrubs
- Reduce the height of shrub roses to avoid windrock damage over winter
- Empty spent summer pots and hanging baskets, and compost the contents
