November jobs to do in the allotment

In the vegetable garden.

• • Lift parsnips after the first frosts when their flavour will have sweetened.
• • Divide mature clumps of rhubarb once they are dormant.
• • Now is a great time to prepare a perennial vegetable bed which can be planted up with rhubarb crowns and asparagus crowns.
• • Prepare a bed for planting autumn garlic. Improve heavy soils with organic matter before planting.
• • Now is an ideal time to invest in mushroom kits. It’s surprisingly easy to grow your own mushrooms.
• • Place a scaffold plank on the ground along the main access route into the plot to allow access without compacting the soilas you walk across it.
• • If you have access to fresh manure, now is the time to spread it across the surface of your vegetable beds to rot down over winter.
• • Build a raised bed to take the bending out of vegetable growing.
• • Stake top-heavy brassicas and draw up some soil around the base of the stem to prevent wind rocking the plant and causing damage to the roots.

In the fruit garden.

• • Now is the ideal time to plant currant bushes whilst they are dormant.
• • Plant raspberry canes now for a delicious home grown crop.
• • Remove the top netting from fruit cages as heavy snow in winter can make it sag.
• • Check fruits in storage and promptly remove any showing signs of disease or rotting.
• • Tidy up your strawberry plants – cut off any dead leaves and remove runners.
• • Prune pear and apple trees anytime between now and February. But don’t be tempted to prune your plum trees now as they will be susceptible to the silver leaf fungus – wait until midsummer.
• • Apply glue bands or greasebands to the trunks of fruit trees to prevent wingless female winter moths climbing the trunks and laying their eggs in the branches.

 In the greenhouse

• • Replace damaged glass before the worst of the winter weather sets in.
• • Clean out the greenhouse thoroughly. Wash the glass, the floor and the staging with horticultural disinfectant to kill any overwintering pests and diseases.
• • Install solar lights in the greenhouse so that you can still get out there on dark winter evenings to check your plants.
• • Insulate the greenhouse with sheets of bubble wrap attached to the inside of the frame, to reduce heat loss.
• • Don’t forget to ventilate the greenhouse, particularly after watering and when paraffin heaters are used at night.
• • As the winter approaches, take special care to not to over water plants that remain in active growth. Little and often is the key.

In the flower garden

• • There’s still time to plant daffodil bulbs and other spring flowering bulbs for a magnificent start to next years display.
• • Plant tulip bulbs now to prevent Tulip Fire infection.
• • Plant up a terracotta pot of hyacinth bulbs for a simple but stunning display next spring.
• • Plant out spring bedding displays of pansies, violas and primulas.
• • Start to plant bare-root roses – they can be planted any time between now and March.
• • Plant heathers, grasses and trailing ivy in pots for winter colour.
• • Now is the ideal time to plant a magnolia tree for a beautiful spring display.
• • Gather up fallen leaves from around the base of rose bushes which suffered from blackspot or rust this summer, to reduce the chance of infection next year.
• • Continue to lift dahlia tubers, begonias and gladiolus corms to store dry over the winter months. Remove the dead foliage before storing.
• • Cut back the yellowing foliage of herbaceous perennials, and lift and divide overcrowded clumps to maintain their vigour.
• • Before the birds eat them all, cut a few stems of holly with berries for making Christmas garlands. Stand them in a bucket of water in a sheltered spot where our feathered friends can’t take them.

Happy Gardening from the garden-shopping team.