Gardening – Nov 23

Tom Strowlger

@garden_with_tom

November is upon us and with it brings the last month of meteorological autumn. The clocks have recently changed meaning our gardens have less daylight and temperatures continue to reduce. This month we should work to get our gardens winter ready, so let’s put on warm outdoor clothing and get our gardening tools out. The main gardening task for November is to do a good tidy up in readiness for the dormant winter season. 

The garden has a much slower feel about it now, it’s lacking in colour, damper, cooler and shadier than we have come accustomed to in the warmer months gone by. We can do a little something about the lack of colour, we can add some seasonal floral colour to brighten up our gardens a little. The best plants for some late autumn and winter floral colour are cyclamens, viola, winter pansies and primroses. They are winter hardy and can be planted into pots, containers, tubs, beds and borders. To plan ahead, we can plant out tulip and allium bulbs this month for beautiful flowers
in springtime. 

The garden will have its fair share of brown leaves settling into corners, borders and beds and on the lawn grass. The fallen golden leaves look amazing as a seasonal feature but unfortunately if they are left to lay over winter they will cause the lawn to go patchy and plants to become smothered. We should rake the leaves up and compost them to be used as mulch on the beds and borders in the future.

It is time for some lawn grass care in readiness for the depths of wintertime. We should edge our lawns as it will make our borders and beds neat and tidy. The lawn should be aerated at this time of year, to allow air to the roots. We should ideally fork the lawn by hand and create as many holes as we can, this will keep our lawn healthy. The lawn should be cut on the very highest cutting setting at this time of year as longer grass is healthier grass, and should not be cut again until after the last frost of the new year.

The soil in borders and beds can become compacted after a hot summertime and a turn of the topsoil with a spade or fork can bring a fresh look back into them. You can also put a nice thick layer of mulch over the topsoil to suppress any weeds and very importantly protect plant roots from the cold and freezing weather of wintertime.

November can be a cosy month, the time to be outside in the cooler air, gently gardening away a good few hours and then enjoying a hot drink and a chocolate biscuit or two as a reward. November feels like a defining line in the gardening calendar, we look back on what we have grown and can plan what we want to plant next year. So while the sun is setting that much earlier in the day, grab a pencil and notepad and get drawing, writing and planning your future garden.