November

November Blog

Now it’s that time of year when the leaves keep falling and you are constantly trying to keep clear and tidy your borders and lawns. But the one good thing is that leaf mould can be made from all of your hard efforts of collecting the leaves. Leaf mould is a great compost or mulch and doesn’t take too long to rot down. If you have a compost system in place you could just add it to that or make it on its own. There are many different ways people make leaf mould depending on the quantity you have do a search online to find out what option might work best for you.

For all the undesirable things in your garden such as perennial weeds, infected or diseased material its best to put it on the bonfire. So when you’re doing your pruning and leaf collecting if anything looks not quite right to you try to identify the issue and burn it. The ash can then be used in the garden or mixed in to the compost next time its turned over.

You can prune roses from now but I always wait until the leaves have dropped which makes it easier and quicker to prune. If you are not going to prune your roses until December its best to check them for any wind rock now and do a couple of snips or staking so nothing snaps off in any storms we might have. Also it is best to rake up the rose leaf to help prevent black spot from occuring. We always put rose leaves on the bonfire for this reason.

It’s not too late to plant your spring bulbs. Best to do it before the ground is frozen or too wet to work with. Tulips don’t like sitting in wet ground so if you have a particularly wet garden you might want to plant your tulips in pots and then plant out once they are more established.

It’s recommended that glue or grease bands are put around the trunks of fruit trees to help stop moths/caterpillars climbing up from the ground to mate and lay eggs. This should help prevent less damage to the trees next year.

Keep an eye on your holly if you want to make a wreath this year. Once its ready cut it off and place it in a bucket of water in the shade, somewhere cool and away from birds. It should be happy like this until you need to use it for wreath making.

Once your garden starts to look a little bare of seed and fruit it might be a good idea to put up some bird feeders to help the birds get through the winter months. Birds are also helpful when it comes to pest control so it doesn’t hurt to make sure they keep visiting your garden.