NOVEMBER  IN  THE  GARDEN

There is still time to plant some spring flowering bulbs. You can tuck some in between shrubs, perennials , along walkways, or make big statement by mass planting in a larger flower bed. When purchasing bulbs, bigger is better, so look for firm plump bulbs with no mushy spots or mould on them.   Now is actually a good time to plant as the soil is getting cooler. Odd numbers usually look more natural, so clumps of 7, 9,11 would be good clumps. Clumps with 99 would be fabulous....I"m sure you get the picture. Most bulbs like a lot of sun. So a sight getting at least 5 or 6 hours per day, will suffice. Heavy soils can be detrimental to bulbs, so well drained soils, rockeries or soils with added sand and compost will help the bulbs to flourish.   And in the spring, when the foliage starts to die back after their colourful performance, let the leaves die back naturally, as they are making food for next years crop of flowers.   I find that planting bulbs between perennial plants is a good idea, because as the perennial grows after the bulb show it often covers over the dying bulb foliage.

And then there are leaves and leaves and leaves. I always talk about mulching your leaves with your lawnmower and then placing those shredded leaves in your garden around trees and shrubs. But if you have a tremendous amount of leaves you could start a big compost pile.The cheapest way to make a big compost pile is with snowfence. Drive some large metal stakes into the ground in an area where you think is suitable for a pile. You can make it square or round and the size depends on the amount of materials you have to compost. Leaves, garden clippings, prunings, grass clippings, your old hanging baskets, your pots of annual plantings, along with vegetable debris from the kitchen, can all be thrown in. Because leaves compress a lot in a short time, I would make the pile inside your snowfence at least two feet deep and then a a thin layer of garden soil, then add a new layer , then a thin layer of garden soil, so on and so forth.   The garden soil contains beneficial microbes and bacteria and bugs that help to break down the compost. You will probably have to wait for one year to use it, unless you start turning it over in the early spring and add it to your planting areas, or mulch with it.   The finer the material is that you add, the sooner it will compost, giving you a dark gritty soil like amendment to use in your garden.

This a a good time to turn some of your planters into Christmas planters. Just chop off all the vegetation on the top of your planter, leaving all the soil and roots intact. Then you can do some pruning of evergreens and colourful twigged plants from your garden. I like to mix up an assortment of branches, so 3 to 5 branches about one to two feet long, will make for a nice mix. So make some branches short. 1 foot and some longer, up to 2 feet. These are just guidelines and you can make things as big or small or as colourful as you like. I like to use Pine because of the long needles and its texture; blue Spruce for its blue colour; Yew because of its deep green and soft colour and sometimes I get some red berries on the branch. I have a corkscrew Hazel that has twisting branches, and red dogwood with red twigs. I use some of the longer evergreen branches on the edge of the pot, to hang out and cascade down. The reason you leave all those roots in the pot is so you can spear the bottom of the branch into the soil and it should hold because of all the roots that have meshed together. I place tall red branches in the middle with maybe 3 corkscrew branches and then fill in with whatever branches you have left.   If at this point you feel that it needs more , you can do some more clipping. Finish it off with ribbons or bows, or add some cones. This is your work of art for Christmas.

Hope your Halloween was frightening, ghoulish and yummy. But now that it's over, Christmas and winter is in your face. So prepare and enjoy your gardens, your friends and your families. 

Till next time in the garden,

Charlie

Plant Expert & Newsletter Columnist

charlie.samms@gmail.com