5 YEAR GUARANTEE Those cooler but often bright November days should be cherished while we busy protecting the gardens for winter.
- Plant tulip bulbs in pots and borders, covering them with at least twice their depth of soil or compost
- Move containers of alpine plants under cover to shelter them from winter rain and replenish gravel mulch around alpines to keep the foliage clear of damp soil, which can cause rotting
- Repair fences and trellis now they’re becoming free of foliage.
- Remove pond pumps and fountains to prevent ice damage when temperatures fall below freezing.
- Put waterproof covers over any garden furniture that you can’t take indoors over winter.
- Start to prune roses once their leaves have fallen.
a) Shrub roses and hybrid Tea roses prune down to four or five buds above the ground and to an outward facing bud. This normally leaves you with around 15-17cm (6-7 inches) of growth above the ground.
b) Prune climbing roses back to a fan shaped main structure tying in main stems where necessary.
c) Rambling roses may be left unpruned or pruned back to the previous season wood to help contain them within a space.
- Plant new roses in fresh soil with mycorrhizal fungi to help establish root growth and a little fish, blood and bone to give strong growth in spring.
- Plant fruit trees before frosts start to set in too hard. Add some fish, blood and bone to the planting hole and water thoroughly. Apple trees may also benefit from added mycorrhizal fungi.
- Plant new raspberry canes and prune autumn fruiting canes of raspberry and blackberry down to the ground once their leaves have dropped.
- Prune gooseberries, red and white currants by removing dead, diseased or damaged shoots then remove any weak thin shoots. Cut leading stems down by as much as one half and the side shoots trim to strong growth.
- Prune black currants by again removing any dead, diseased or damaged growth first. Remove older fruiting stems from the centre to develop a cup like appearance, giving improved light levels to the centre of the plant.
- Finish planting any remaining onion sets before the first frosts. Garlic cloves need to go in now or very soon so that the plant receives a spell of cold frosty weather in order that it will develop separate cloves. Broad beans may be sown now and peas may be sown with some simple protection to give early crops.
- Lift dahlias as they finish and store in dry compost, sand or vermiculite.
- Don’t forget to keep your bird feeders and tables topped up with seeds and nuts to keep the birds going through the leaner coming months.
- Make chutney out of any left over fruit such as tomatoes to enjoy over the winter months.