Gardener's Diary is a regular feature of Age-Net run by our Deputy Editor

Rosemary Martin

 

November 2009

I like November, the garden looks bare but tidy and there is usually a damp and gloomy feel to the outdoors. The days are at their shortest and darkest too, so what on earth do I find that is nice about November?

Well, I can finally put my feet up and be unashamedly lazy. All summer long I have been a slave to the garden; weeding, digging and pruning, which was an excellent way of exercising and keeping fit during the summer months, but a rest from it all is now on the cards..

Have I followed my own advice to take time out and enjoy the rewards of my labour? Of course not.... But I will next year!

Spotted in Britain for the first time, it's Notcher average pest; A voracious Asian moth that devours one of our most popular garden shrubs...

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November Jobs

Apart from a few tidying up maintenance sessions, most of the jobs in the garden are now finished until the spring.

Have you planted up all those packs of prettily packaged bulbs that tempted you to buy them in the garden centre, or have you, like me, shoved them in a cupboard and forgotten them? Tulips can be planted out until December, but all others really should be in the ground or pots by now!

• Sweep up leaves instead of letting them gather in soggy, slippery heaps, ready to trip up an unsuspecting pedestrian.
  
• If your lawn is still growing and is fairly dry, continue cutting it. I have cut my lawn throughout the winter months in years gone by, just for the exercise!
  
• Ensure the food and water for the birds is always topped up.
  
• Take care to keep your pets indoors and safe while those loud fireworks are still being let off. If you keep the radio on indoors it will deaden the 'bangs'..
  
• Plan your bedding plants and perennials for next year with a spot of armchair gardening and some seed catalogues.
  
• Put the garden furniture away in the shed for the winter and give anything made of wood a coat of paint before it goes away!