How to garden in November
What to Do and What Not to Do in your garden this month. Plus: Substack on Film, tulip bargains and the first Shrub of the Month
A very happy 1st November to you all. I have absolutely no idea where October went: one minute I was sulking about it being autumn, and then, suddenly, the month dodged me. Or I dodged it. Whichever.
Maybe those distracting-in-a-good-way blue skies have something to do with it? Yes, we’ve had some downpours where the rain has come down so hard that the other day I actually thought there was a tap-dancer on the roof. But the in-between skies have been magical, proper blue like the blue in a child’s painting, with the light as crisp as the temperatures. Still no frosts here in the south-east though, so those dahlias just keep on coming.
Before we get going, here’s an enormous welcome to all new subscribers: many of you have found your way here because of this fun day in the rain with
team:
(I’m just so proud of Basil for getting his very own credit at the end. What a clever boy).
If you’re new to The Gardening Mind and are wondering what we’re all about here, there’s all sorts: design articles, plant profiles, garden challenges, short courses, tutorials, and lots and lots more.
It really is a community here, created by all the wonderful members over the last four years, and you’ll find lots of friendly conversations going on over in the Chat - do come and join us there on Sundays where we have the regular Show Us Your Plots show and tell. This is the easiest thing in the world, where we post photos of our gardens or a green space that we’ve seen. The photos absolutely don’t have to be beautiful or filtered or award-winningly fantastic. It’s simply the real deal there - just like in the Substack on Film video. I’d love it if you were able to come and join in.
We’ll be looking at What to Do and What Not to Do in your garden this month, including:
How to plant bare-root roses
Leaving the leaves
Tulip bargains
And there’s a new feature - Shrub of the Month
Plus, a reminder to keep your bird feeders full, and our Real Gardener’s Guide to Real Gifts that Real Gardeners Really Want - coming soon….
If you’re working your way through the Cottage Garden Design series, you can find the first three sections here:
How to design your own cottage garden - easy tricks and tips
How to plan your cottage garden design - simple steps to get started
And if you’re currently thinking about colour and choosing plants, I thought you might like these:
As mentioned last week, the next section in the Cottage Garden series will be focusing on the all-important planting layers, followed by mixing ornamentals and edibles; paths, structures, and focal Points; roses, climbers, and romantic touches; wildlife and pollinator-friendly design; the year-round garden and finally: making your cottage garden truly yours.
There’s a lot to get your teeth into……
I would say that autumn is well and truly here - what do you think?
That feeling of alternately crunchy/soft leaves underfoot, and the sheer bliss of catching the right moment to be under a tree just as it decides to rain leaves on you.
Whilst I’m on autumn colours, can I just give a quick shout-out to those shrubs and trees, those underpinnings which like good underwear, hold everything together? You don’t really see the shrubs in the summer, not properly, but in autumn, as the flowers beneath them fade, my goodness they come into their own.
I just can’t do without shrubs in the garden - they’re essential, and they need some love. So THIS is the reason why I’m starting a Shrub of the Month section - I hope you like this month’s choice - see below. If you’re thinking you’d like to know more about how to work with shrubs, these forgotten beauties, you can find out more in the Border planting design series here:
and here:
As ever, I promise you that it’s easy.
I’ve been looking forward to this month because…….
November is bare-root rose planting time - hurrah! My absolute favourite planting task, I cannot wait for my roses to arrive, and to get them heeled in/planted, with all the promise of colour that this job brings with it.
You can read about how to do this ‘heeling-in' and planting here. There are a couple of key things to remember - make sure the planting hole is a good size. It needs to be deep enough for the long roots, and probably twice as wide as the span of these roots, so that you’ve got room for some good compost in there too. Do remember if you can to sprinkle some mycorrhizal fungi over the roots before you place the rose in its hole - I have no idea whether these beneficial fungi actually work but in my experience the roses are always very happy, and they always have had a slosh of this powdery stuff.
Do prune any really long stems of roses back a bit to prevent them being whipped up by the wind, which will then rock the roots of the whole plant. Don’t be scared by the idea of pruning if you’re not really sure what you’re doing: if there are any stems that are a good couple of feet taller than the rest of the plant, simply trim them back to around the height of the other stems. There’ll be time to properly prune later on.
Do leave the leaves, but not indiscriminately: more below.
My own garden has pretty much all the structure it needs for the moment, but in clients’ gardens I’m planting bare-root trees and shrubs. November is the ideal time for bare-root planting, as with roses above, as plants are dormant (asleep) and therefore remain happy when lifted from their nursery beds and planted in their forever homes. It’s a much cheaper way to plant too. The Shrub of the Month below might be the one for you.
It feels like the To-do list gets so much shorter this month, so it’s a good time to seize the opportunity to do the stuff you never normally have time to do. Start cleaning tools (boring, I know, but think of the money you’ll save and that you can use to buy plants instead). Or maybe start planning that border, or even the whole garden. And if you’re out of ideas, have a browse through the Small Garden Design series.
Finally, the tulip bulbs can go in. I’m planting most of mine in pots, to avoid disease. More on that, and the Bulb Cheat Sheet, here.
I know I spent the whole of August and September telling you not to buy and DEFINITELY not to plant tulip bulbs: now is the time to buy and plant. There are some brilliant sales happening at the moment, and when you see the reductions, I promise you that you’ll be pleased you waited. We’ve been posting some of these sales and offers in the Chat, so do look out for updates there. In the meantime, here are some:
There are some good discounts around: this tulip will keep flowering in your garden for years:
Just look at those colours, all gorgeous and mouth-watering in shades of pale watermelon and peachy pinks - and I can assure you that the reality is just as good as the picture. It’s now reduced at a number of suppliers: I’ve found it half-price
