Tasks for November

November's plants of the month are trees – the most invaluable occupants of any garden. November is also a great month to plant them, as moderate temperatures and rainfall allow plants to root and acclimatise before spring comes around. There's a tree for every situation, whether wet or dry, acid, alkaline, chalky or clay. From flowering cherries and crab apples [...]

Wrap up warm and get outside to enjoy those clear frosty days that often herald the start of winter. There's loads to be getting on with: here are some jobs to tick off your list this month. General tasks: Keep containers safe from frost by wrapping them in bubble wrap or hessian. Take one last cut off the lawn with [...]

Pot up some bulbs for forcing and you'll enjoy the delight of early flowers and scent filling the house in January and February next year. Hyacinths are the traditional choice: you'll find some lovely varieties in our garden centre from azure 'Delft Blue' to fragrant white 'Carnegie'. And pots of paperwhite narcissi - tiny, delicate and fragrant winter-flowering daffodils - [...]

Plant rhubarb crowns now and you'll give them all winter to establish before they burst into growth again next spring. You'll find plenty of choice varieties on sale now in our garden centre; 'Victoria' is a time-honoured favourite, while 'Timperley Early' is always first to produce a harvest. If you want to try forcing your rhubarb, 'Stockbridge Arrow' is a [...]

Give your containers a pre-winter once-over to make sure they survive the cold weather in the best possible condition and perform for you again next season. Excess winter rain is the worst enemy, flooding containers and drowning roots beyond recovery. Pot feet, available from our garden centre, are easily slipped under the bottom of containers to raise them up off [...]

Heel in leeks and other winter veg to make sure you aren't caught out in a cold snap when the ground can freeze so hard it's impossible to get a fork in, let alone harvest anything. Several crops happily stay in the ground over winter until you need them – leeks, parsnips and celeriac, for example. But it's a good [...]