November is all about compost and getting everything ready for winter. Clearing leaves and cutting back dead growth is top of the agenda – which is great news because leaves and garden debris are perfect ingredients for homemade compost.
It’s also a great month for planting trees and shrubs and good planting needs good mulch. With more autumn leaves around than a standard compost bin can deal with you have the perfect material to hand. Leaves don’t need the heat of a compost to rot down; you can compost them by filling up bags with leaves to make really good garden mulch. The best way is to fill biodegradable sacks, then place them somewhere in the garden where they will be rained on…and wait. Come Spring next year you will have a bag full of nutritious leaf mould compost.
If you’re planning to plant trees in the garden then do it now before the ground gets too hard or frozen whilst you can still position them in wet and dry land. They can tolerate acidic, chalky, sandy and clay soils and come in all shapes and sizes. From flowering cherries and crab apples to evergreen yews and weeping willows, trees offer different leaf size, shape and colour. Many have attractive flowers, fruits and seeds and there are those that flower magnificently in spring and those whose leaves offer brilliant autumn colour just before leaf fall. Trees can add structure to the landscape and garden and some make excellent hedges and screens whilst others are ideal as statement specimens. By planting trees, you can reduce or improve your carbon footprint and generally enhance the environment.
In addition to tree planting, if there’s one job to be done this month it’s to …plant up seasonal containers that you have emptied of spent annuals and edible crops. Potted plants will provide colour when little else is growing in the garden, and can be placed around patios and paths where they can be seen. Clean pots and fill with compost then add autumn and winter bedding plants such as cineraria, ornamental brassicas and violas. Cram the plants close together for an instant ‘full bloom’ effect and water.
For fruit and veg growers, now it the time …. to plant new fruit trees and bushes, but only if the ground is not frozen or waterlogged. You can also cover weeds with a double layer of cardboard and cover with homemade garden compost to keep growing areas weed free. It’s also a good time to stake any Brussels sprout stalks that look leggy and vulnerable to wind rock and you can clean and store bamboo canes in the shed or other dry place to ensure they’re still in good condition for next year.
Some of the other garden jobs for November suggested by the RHS are:
- Raise containers onto pot feet to prevent waterlogging
- Plant tulip bulbs for a spring display next year
- Prune roses to prevent wind-rock
- Plant out winter bedding
- Cover brassicas with netting if pigeons are a problem
- Insulate outdoor containers from frost
- Sow some sweet peas indoors
- Put out bird food to encourage winter birds into the garden
- Clear up fallen leaves especially from ponds, lawns and beds
- Don’t burn woody waste – compost it or recycle into dead hedges or log piles
