This Month in Your Garden - November

‘To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.’ – Audrey Hepburn

Whilst the weather is likely to become more settled after the first week of November it is almost certain to turn colder. Things are slowing down in the garden, but there is still plenty to do to create tomorrow’s garden. You can take that literally by planting out winter flowering annuals such as pansies for splashes of seasonal colour. Hellebores, Christmas roses, too, will brighten the dullest days.

Looking towards next spring, now is the time to plant tulips and more daffodils in borders or containers. If you have an unheated greenhouse, sow sweet pea seeds which will grow through the winter for planting out after the frosts next year. Bare rooted roses can be planted anytime from now until next March and while container-grown plants can be planted at any time of the year, autumn and winter planting means less watering. 

Bare rooted and rootballed trees and shrubs are only available at this time of the year through winter and should be planted immediately. If that’s not possible, they can be ‘heeled-in’ temporarily. It is the perfect time to plant hedging, be it for screening or a colourful backdrop. If you want to brighten up borders and containers, a trip to the garden centre will reveal many plants you may never have considered, along with the violas, primrose, and polyanthus. 

And of course you can get warm on those colder days by digging over borders and working in manure, planting and pruning. 

• Clear and bag up leaves to make leaf mould compost
• Bring patio fuchsias and pelargoniums into a warm greenhouse or conservatory to overwinter
• Wash down the greenhouse ready for growing through the winter
• Prune standard and bush roses
• Use turf to repair the lawn or lay a new one on prepared ground
• Direct sow vegetables outdoors for next spring 
• Plant outdoor fruits such as strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants
• Pot deciduous shrubs for early flowering in the greenhouse