Gardening tips for November

Week 1

- Heavy and medium soil should be manured now, leaving the light soils for the Spring
- Start pruning soft-fruit bushes, including gooseberries, whitecurrants and redcurrants
- As you cut down spent border plants, remember to put a handful of sand or gravel over the site of clumps of lilies and other bulbs to mark their positions
- Surplus manure should be spread around the flower beds if leaf mould is not available and the soil dug
- Protect hardy fuchsias from cold damage by surrounding the bases with a thick mulch
- If you are collecting and bagging fallen leaves to make leaf mould, make sure they are wet first or they will not rot.
- There is still time to plant flowering shrubs and trees for next season
- Herbaceous borders will need to be forked over and plants trimmed and cut down after they have bloomed
- Lag outdoor taps and water pipes and move hosepipes under cover for the winter
- Keep an eye on weed seedlings. Foxgloves will be coming up like mad, which is fine. So will hairy bitter cress and grass, which is not
- It is a good time to tidy up: clean spare pots and seed trays to prevent the spread of disease and store them in a shed or garage.
- Precious or frost-susceptible pots will need to be emptied and stored away, scrubbed-down and dry.

Week 2

- Now is the time of year to give land that becomes waterlogged drainage treatment.
- Take hardwood cuttings of ribes sanguineum (flowering currant)
- Dahlias that have flowered should be dug up and stored; whilst the young ones should be potted up and kept dry throughout the winter.
- Lift submersible pond pumps out of the water and, after cleaning them, store in a dry and frost-free shed
- Peonies can be propagated by taking part of the root.
- Feed garden birds on a regular basis and keep bird baths topped up with fresh water
- Planting bare-rooted trees and shrubs now gives them maximum time to establish before next spring
- Final plantings of Anemone tubers, Canterbury Bells, Pansies, Primroses, Sweet William
- Petrol lawn mowers can be sent away for servicing; have the blades sharpened at the same time.

Week 3

- Tidy or make those paths or remake old ones that have needed it for years.
- Clean all equipment before storing it over the winter
- Scrupulously clear up and burn the fallen leaves of vines under glass and keep the greenhouse cold and well ventilated for the next couple of months.
- Start taking root cuttings of herbaceous perennials such as acanthus
- Protect winter crops from bird damage
- Collect vegetable refuse and compost or burn it - do not let it rot next to the plants
- Hippeastrum (amaryllis) bulbs can be potted up now and kept in a reasonably warm and well-lit room
- Celery and leeks require earthing up
- Check over suspect fence panels, and if a post is broken at the base get it replaced soon
- Remove unwanted moss from terraces, steps and paths, as they can become very slippery in wet weather.

Week 4

- Check greenhouse heaters are working properly
- This is the month to plant Fruit trees
- On heavy clay soils and where slugs are a problem, use fine grit as a winter mulch for tender perennials
- Plant Cabbages, Leeks, Savoys as they will stand over the winter
- Once completely dormant, prune grapevines grown under cover
- New Strawberry plants should have some manure spread between the rows
- Start ordering seed potatoes for delivery in the new year
- The fruits of the golden hop have now disintegrated, or at least outlived their attraction. Disentangle the stems from their host and cut them down to a few inches

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