What to do in the garden in November:
It may seem chilly out there but the summer's warmth is still in the soil: it's a great time to buy and plant new additions to your garden. Here are some other jobs to be getting on with this month:
General tasks:
Clean out bird boxes, removing old nesting material and washing with boiling water to destroy lurking parasites.
Check bonfire heaps on Bonfire Night to make sure you don't harm any hibernating toads and hedgehogs.
Ornamental garden:
Weed and tidy borders as long as the soil is dry enough, cutting back dead stems of perennials and raking off fallen leaves.
Protect delicate plants like cistus, fuchsia and penstemon by tucking straw around their bases to keep frost at bay.
Wrap netting around upright conifers so their branches aren't pulled out of shape by heavy falls of snow.
Kitchen garden:
Plant bare-root fruit as long as the ground isn't frozen: you'll find a great selection in our garden centre at really economic prices.
Cover outdoor crops with cloches to protect them during periods of severe frost. Rigid plastic, polythene or fleece are all available in our garden centre.
Insulate cold frames with bubblewrap polythene, and in really cold weather lay a piece of carpet over the top.
