November; Bonfires & beer

Gardeners are a funny breed.

I was sitting outside a pub in the sun yesterday afternoon drawing breath when a seasoned gardener drew up. ( It was my way of preparing for a hard 80 minutes against the All Blacks).

I waved in a hale and hearty manner."Lovely day isn't it? Good to get this sun!"

He shook his head; "Too warm for me. I prefer it cold - all this global warmth is no good for me. We need a good cold snap - that's what gets all the leaves off all the trees in one go, none of this sweeping them up for a month". I did my best to grin; "Well I like it" I said weakly.

He looked at me as if I was the typical Johnny-come-lately romantic gardener whose hands and now whose head was going soft. ( He is right of course ). "Well you rake leaves for a month and then tell me that". I left him to his pint hoping that he would spot that his glass was half full before it became half empty and that we probably won't be seeing polar bears in Hampshire quite yet.

The warmth certainly has gone on - and what a blessing. But it means that bugs and diseases are more likely to remain and bare-root planting should be delayed. There is still time to lift and divide herbaceous plants, to enjoy late flowering perennials and to be able to work in borders without tramping the life out of them when they are water-logged.

So now the rugby is over and half-term almost done;

• Enjoy a bonfire to burn all diseased cuttings and leaves such as black-spot on roses and coral spot on twigs that are dying back.
• Get all the leaves off the lawn and off the pond either to compost them or burn them if mildew is appearing.
• Plant out your Tulips where you know colour will be needed in the spring; you can still plant daffodils and many other bulbs.
• Bare-root hedging and trees can be "heeled in" by digging small trenches and covering the roots with soil. They can then be easily lifted to plant out when the time is right.
• Plunge into that compost heap you have been patiently filling with tea bags and potato peelings. Clear all your well-rotted compost ( hopefully with all the worms too) onto your borders and veg patches to make space for another filling this year.
• Check that all your tree and climber ties are not too tight or too loose; it is amazing how easy it is to forget such a simple task. Ties that are too tight will restrict the bark that is essential to growth. Ties that are too loose will make your trees and climbers vulnerable to wind damage in the winter.
• Now is the time of year to prune Acers as they are prone to bleeding in other months.

I like to add well-rotted manure to borders at this time of year too. It takes several months to break down so the nutrients are available to the plant in spring and humus would have worked it's way into the soil by then too. Roses particularly benefit from this.

Maybe not mention red roses and rugby shirts for a while. Perhaps my grizzled colleague was an England rugby fan and that was why he was so grumpy. I didn't ask though he did seemed to have cheered up after a few pints when I passed him on the way out.

Just don't mention global warming, the weather or the war.