I love the start of this month with cold crisp mornings and the smell of bonfires and spent gunpowder from the myriad of fireworks that are released in the days before and after the 5th.

So other than wandering around with your nose in the air what should we be doing in the garden this month… well as I said last month if you are like me the raking up of the large quantities of leaves is one of the first jobs that need to be completed, though I would like to point out that the leaves in my garden would have been picked up a lot sooner had it not been for the internal DIY duties my wife imposed in October!

November in the garden has to be about keeping warm – not just us but the plants as well, so if you have tender varieties in the borders or in pots this is the month to be wrapping them up for winter. I have a banana and ginger growing in the borders of my garden and I completely wrap both plants using a wigwam arrangement with three canes and straw around the base of the plant and finally wrapped with a horticultural fleece –snug! (I have also seen tinfoil wrapped around straw used to good effect for the banana).

I used to be Alan Titchmarshs’ horticultural researcher and he had a lovely collection of tree ferns in his garden which at this time of year he would carefully protect by wrapping chicken wire round the top of the tree fern and placing straw in the crown to protect the emerging fronds, I also tie up the existing fronds to give added protection, though I have one and it is only 2ft tall, Alan had many and had to use a ladder – say no more!

Two other little tips for protecting the plants is making sure that any exposed pots (most particularly clay) are wrapped as where the roots touch the inside of the clay pot they can be damaged by the temperature variances over winter. Also, still on pots ensure that there are adequate drainage holes in the bottom of pot and that it is off the ground to let excess water out.

Many of the general jobs for this month are continuations of last such as digging over available ground (leaving the ground as rough as possible – i.e. do not create a fine tilth) let the beneficial action of the winter weather work on your soil.

Continue to tidy the borders, as the majority of herbaceous plants will have finished flowering. As I am adding such a large amount of leaves to the compost bin (yes in one go!) I like to empty my existing compost this month and spread it over the garden adding I think a bit of protection to the herbaceous plants before the real frosts arrive.

As I didn’t do it last month here are 5 plants for November:

Nandina domestica Firepower – Heavenly Bamboo - This slow growing shrub makes an attractive clump, eventually reaching a metre in height. The foliage will take on a red and gold colour that will last throughout the winter.

Pyracantha Orange Charmer - Firethorn – as well as making an ideal hedging plant as it is more upright than many of the other varieties, from late autumn this plant is dripping with orange fruits that dependant on how desperate the birds become can last well in to the winter. It also has small white flowers in June that whilst they are somewhat insignificant individually on mass they look great against the dark green leaves.

Miscanthus sin. Yaku Jima – Dwarf Maiden Grass – with very fine green leaves, this clump forming plant can reach around 1.25m. This plant prefers full sun but will tolerate many different soil types. Flowers are pink in colour, formed in August and it is worth keeping the flowers on the plant over winter, as it does look fabulous in the border adorned in a covering of frost and resist pruning until April/May.

Cornus alba Sibirica – Dogwood – planted on mass in a border this plant comes into its own in the winter, the leaves fall off and exposes a vivid red legged beauty getting darker as winter progresses! Prune hard in the spring every other year to keep compact and vigorous.

Ilex Golden King – Holly - …well it is nearly Christmas! This holly whilst called King is a female variety and has green leaves with beautiful golden margins and best of all has few if any spines on the leaves (and is thus a pleasure to plant), to get the most berries plant a male variety nearby. It can be grown as a hedge or as a stand-alone small tree.

Of course November is the month for planting bare root hedging, fruit, ornamental trees and roses. When it comes to planting bare root there are a few things to bear in mind:

Do not let the roots dry out – if you are buying form a nursery or garden centre make sure that the roots are covered preferably in a co-extruded bag (these are black on the inside and white on the outside – affording the best protection for your bare root plant).

Make sure you thoroughly soak the roots before planting, you could also add a water retentive powder to your bucket that will become a gel (looks a bit like lumpy wallpaper paste) this will stick to the roots of the plants helping to prevent drying out.

Ensure that the planting pit or trench is well dug prior to planting adding organic matter to assist plant establishment.

I will just give roses a special mention as they seem to cause the most problems to people when planting – firstly put the rose in a bucket of water for a good hour prior to planting, make sure you have dug a good deep planting pit with well rotted manure in the bottom then check the roots on the roses trimming back any damaged or long straggly roots prior to spreading the rose roots out evenly in the planting pit; finally when planting ensure that the graft/union is 1 to 2 inches below the soil – the traditional way of testing is to place a cane across the planting pit before backfilling to ensure that the rose is deep enough.

And finally, as I like to say…if you do nothing else …when you are planting any of your bare root plants this month buy a sachet/tub of ‘Rootgrow’ (it is endorsed by the RHS), in much the same way as adding the swell gel to water you add ‘Rootgrow’ (you could always add both). ‘Rootgrow’ is very a fabulous product in that it is full of mycorrhizal fungi which has been found to be present in over 90% of all plants and can increase their root capacity by over 700 times, it will reduce mortality, increase water and nutrient uptake and increase tolerance to transplant shock (If you want more information we have some fact sheets available to download) … count yourself lucky I didn’t do a whole paragraph on glomalin and carbon sequestration!



Richard.Burton@Best4plants.co.uk