Preparing the garden for winter

By Chris Small, Orchard Nurseries 

Autumn is here! We should expect misty mornings, fog and the occasional frosts this month, so now’s the time to prepare for winter…

Check tree supports are firm and the ties are not digging into the bark; loosen and retie if needed, in preparation for winter storms. Move tender perennials and shrubs into a greenhouse or shed. If that is not available, move them up against a south or south-west facing wall, wrap with garden fleece and hope for the best! Citrus plants should be moved indoors with a minimum temperature of 10 degrees centigrade; a conservatory would be perfect, and as with house plants, reduce the frequency of watering.

There’s still time to plant up pots with winter pansies or violas and ivies. Try putting a Skimmia “Rubella” in the centre, or an evergreen grass such as Carex Frosted Curls, Carex “Red Rooster”, or Carex “Silver Sceptre”.

Plant the taller tulip bulb varieties by mid-November. Bring some winter colour to your garden with trees such as Prunus subhirtella Autumnalis varieties (can flower in November and again in the early spring). Shrubs such as Skimmia japonica “Rubella”, Lonicera x purpusii, Viburnum x bodnanmtense “Dawn”, Hamamelis varieties (Witch Hazels), Mahonia x media “Winter Sun”, and Sarcococca Varieties (Sweet Box). Many of these plants have wonderful scents and long flowering times. There are perennials too, such as Helleborus niger and orientalis/hybridus, and winter-flowering heathers Erica x darleyensis and Erica carnea, which can be successfully grown is less acidic soils.

This month is a good time to plant trees, both fruiting and ornamental varieties, and look forward to them springing into life next spring.

In the vegetable garden, if you have well-drained soil, you can sow broad beans direct; even better if you can offer some winter protection with a cloche for an earlier harvest next summer. Alternatively, sow in pots and keep in a cold greenhouse or coldframe to plant out next spring.

Prune currant and gooseberry bushes whilst dormant, removing old and diseased wood. Cut down all old autumn fruiting raspberry canes to ground level. It’s a good time to plant new rhubarb, strawberry and asparagus plants.

Prepare the soil for next year, clear spent crop debris and weeds to the compost heap. Spread a 3-6 cm layer of well-rotted manure on your beds. If you’re a no-dig gardener, let the frost and worms mix it into the soil. If you’re a more traditional gardener, rough-dig the manure into the soil and let the winter frosts break down the clods. It can be quite therapeutic preparing a bed for next year.

And finally, wrap up warm and enjoy November in your garden!

Visit www.orchardnurseries-york.co.uk to get in touch with Orchard Nurseries.