November 2020

So, November is nearly upon us the trees are changing colour and dropping their leaves, the flowers are fading away as well as the day light hours. The rain keeps on coming and going whilst the mornings are getting colder and colder.  So that can only mean one thing I hear you cry, it is time to get in the garden. This is the hardest and one of the busiest times of the year for the garden at Smiths Hall. You would not believe the amount of plant material that we prune and remove from the garden daily over this period.

Here we have our pumpkin’s and squashes that are grown for decoration over the Halloween period. There is a variety of shapes, colour and sizes. These can be painted in lacquer to last longer in the home.

The banana tree I planted about 3 years ago is still going strong and has enjoyed the warm summer. Its trunk is now estimated 8ft and to the top of the leaves 15ft. It is that time of the year where I will be watching the weather and deciding when to wrap it up for the winter. I use a mixture of materials from bubble wrap to straw all depending on what we have around, if the stem is protected from excessive water and frost it will be fine.

Keep an eye on any tender plants you need to collect seed from to start the growing process again next year, these Ricinus plants can reseed themselves but we find we have much better results collecting the seed and starting them early in the glasshouse.

Do not forget to keep feeding your compost heaps all the leaves you collect up! The lawn will thank you for it and so will the flower beds when you make good compost from them.