Gardening Notes

November

• Clear ponds of autumnal debris, service electrical pumps and stop feeding the fish.
• Collect leaves for leaf mould.
• Manure vegetable beds.
• Complete the planting of tulips as soon as possible this month.
• Start pruning soft-fruit bushes, including gooseberries, whitecurrants and redcurrants.
• Lag outdoor taps and water pipes and move hosepipes under cover for the winter.
• 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.
• If you are collecting and bagging fallen leaves to make leaf mould, make sure they are wet first or they will not rot. Trying to wet them thoroughly in the bag is impossible. If they are dry, wait for the rain, or spread them out and put a can of water over them.
• 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.
• Move permanently planted containers (box, camellias, bay, etc) to a sheltered place for the winter, ideally with a little overhead cover against a wall. You may need to water them a little if it’s dry and windy for a long period .
• Precious or frost-susceptible pots will need to be emptied and stored away, scrubbed-down and dry.
• Lift submersible pond pumps out of the water and, after cleaning them, store in a dry and frost-free shed.
• Feed garden birds on a regular basis and keep bird baths topped up with fresh water.
• Clean all equipment before storing it over the winter.
• Remove unwanted moss from terraces, steps and paths, as they can become very slippery in wet weather.
• Check over suspect fence panels, and if a post is broken at the base get it replaced soon: when one post is broken the fence waggles in the wind and adjacent posts can break, too.
• Check greenhouse heaters are working properly.
• Clear ivy from around windows and cut back any loose stems on more aristocratic self-clinging climbers  such as Hydrangea petiolaris, Pileostegia, Schizophragma and Parthenocissus  before the winds can peel them back further.