Maggies Blog November 2010

The clocks go back, the days shorten, but I quite like this time of year as is gives me a chance to tidy up the garden. The shrubs that have been rampant all summer and can now be trimmed back into a tidy shape, the bedraggled summer bedding can be pulled up and the patio pots can be emptied and put away (or refilled with fresh compost and winter flowering pansies for a splash of colour in the dreary months ahead). The borders need to be tidied up, but don't be too enthusiastic because the dead foliage gives frost protection to the new buds at the base of the plants, as well as giving shelter to garden wildlife.

The runner bean plants, which have been prolific all summer and well into the autumn, have now stopped producing and i have caught the frost, so i have cleared all the foliage off the supporting canes, chopped it up and put it into the composters. I cut the plants off at ground level and leave the roots in the soil as they are rich in nitrogen which leaches back into the soil as the roots rot and break down.

I have, as usual, put a few springs of mint into a pot in the greenhouse to provide fresh mint for the potatoes on Christmas Day. I just bring the pot into the kitchen and stand it on a light windowsill a couple of weeks before Christmas just so the warmth can give it a boost.

As you collect up fallen leave do not put them into your composters with the usual kitchen waste etc because they rot down at a much slower rate. It helps to chop them up by collecting them with a leaf buster (which chops them as it vacuums them up) or by spreading them out on the lawn and gathering them up with the lawn mower. Place them in a container made from chicken wire, or even in a large garden plastic waste bag which has has holes punched in it. Make sure they are damp as dry leaves take even longer to decompose. Give them a good stir every few weeks to introduce air to the mixture and check the moisture level.

I have bought all my fushias, lillies, hostas and palms in pots into the cold greenhouse. They will no be dormant through the winter so I will only water them sparingly. Most of these plants can survive some degree of cold, but do not like to be too wet as it rots their roots.

Happy Gardening!!!