Whatever you did not manage to do in October, there''s always November, weather permitting. With shortening days and often poor weather guaranteed to drive the gardener indoors, it is time to start concentrating on next year from the shed or the kitchen.

This is the month to order and plant all your spring bulbs for a fantastic display. Tulips and narcissi for pots should all be planted up now and if the weather does allow it is not too late to be planting bulbs outside as well.

Lawn

Try and keep working on the lawn if at all possible, aerating is a great task to carry out through this month. If you can cut the lawn then go ahead.

Roses

November is a good month to be getting started on the roses. You can prune all the climbing roses after they have finished flowering and any shrub roses or hybrid T''s can be done as well. When you have finished be sure to fork up around the base of the plant and give a good mulch of compost or well rotted manure.

Bare root roses

It is also a good month to order and plant bare root roses. One tip when planting is to shake the plant up and down a few times when you have filled around it with soil before firming it in. This allows the soil to get into the air holes.

Shrubs and trees

Shrubs and trees of any description may be planted now as well. Whether in pots or bare root. Be aware that however damp the soil it is very important to water the plants in after planting.

Herbaceous

Herbaceous perennials may be divided in November and replanted straight away.

Apples

November is the month to pick all the remaining apples. Store them in a cool but frost free place and keep only unblemished fruit. Any bruised apples or pears can be juiced and the juice frozen. Try and pick up most of the windfalls and compost the ones that have gone too far. Try and rake up apple leaves to prevent the spread of scab. Likewise with roses, if you pick up the leaves you will reduce your black spot problem considerably. Composting the leaves of both is fine.



Many thanks to www.dancingbee.co.uk

2008 has seen a resurgence in the grow-your-own culture; waiting lists for allotments have grown longer than the queue at Sainsbury’s. With food prices soaring there has never been a better time to rediscover the joys of being outdoors in all weathers, reconnecting with the earth and reminding ourselves that without three layers of plastic packaging, vegetables don’t only cost less but taste better too.



A Vegetable Gardener’s Year is the latest title from Blackmore Vale columnist, ‘Dirty Nails’. It is an all-in-one, grow-your-own manual, a recipe book, and a store of fascinating observations about natural history in the garden. Brimming with an infectious passion for the outdoors life, ‘Dirty Nails’ awakens the reader to the year-long joys of nature and the possibilities of self sufficiency, whether they live in the country or the urban jungle.

... inspiring, occasionally challenging, A Vegetable Gardener’s Year is a book that can be taken to bed as an end of the day muse; or get dog-eared and dirty as an essential aid to cultivating and cooking home-grown food.

About the author: ‘Dirty Nails’ has been writing about wildlife since boyhood. His weekly gardening column has been a popular feature of the Dorset and Somerset based Blackmore Vale Magazine since February 2002. With a naturalist’s eye for the world around him, and wearing his heart always on his sleeve, the author thrills to the extraordinary and the mundane in equal measure. Past life employment has included being a teacher, international photo-journalist, forester and groundsman. He now earns a living as a wildlife consultant and gardening writer. His first book, How To Grow Your Own Food, was published in 2007.

A Vegetable Gardener’s Year is published by How To Books Ltd www.howtobooks.co.uk and is available at £12.99 in major bookshops and online retailers across the country. ISBN 978-1- 905862-22-1