HAPPY NOVEMBER! Everything You Should Be Doing In Your Garden This Month

HAPPY NOVEMBER!

What You Can Do In Your Garden This Month

Just because the weather is getting cooler doesn't mean you stop planting or maintaining! You can still do so much with your landscape and garden before the winter months take effect. If you want to have a spring garden and see all of those lovely blooms to come, spend this month preparing for the next growing season! Take a look at what you can, and should, be doing this month!

Get to Planting! Now is the time to plant a list of different things! Spring flowering bulbs- plant now for an amazing display to start next year right!  Magnolia trees- for another gorgeous early spring display.  Bare-root roses- these can be planted any time between now and March! If you already have roses planted, it's time to winterize them! Heathers, grasses and trailing ivy plants- can be planted in pots for extra color during the winter.  Trees and shrubs- keep the roots moist to the depth of the roots until the ground freezes! With ornamental grasses, you don't have to cut them back before the winter! They add beauty to the landscape all season long and make a great contrast against the snow.  Read about how to plant and maintain ornamental grasses HERE!

Read about how to plant your tree HERE! We also have a How To on Staking and Guying trees that you already have and you can read that HERE!

Leave your Leaves! Leaves provide an insulating winter cover in the garden for plants, as well as for the tiny creatures that sustain life in them. So go ahead and mulch with your leaves! Leave them where they fall to decompose wherever possible or settle them under the branches of your shrubs. It's understandable if you live in an area where not raking your leaves might not be possible, but if you can let your leaves go, do it! You can still rake out some of the leaves from the beds that are just too much and might smother tender plants and cause them to rot over the winter. Add them to your compost pile and use your mulching mower to chop them up into little pieces, placing them back in the garden around shrubs and plants. It actually forms a very manicured look! They'll decompose over the winter, giving your soil the valuable nutrients that it needs.

Transplant! Not happy with the particular spot that something is planted in your yard? You should change that now! Do a little renovating and get those spring and summer flowering perennials transplanted so they have enough time to recover before the ground freezes!

Wait to Prune! Some wildlife actually uses the leaf litter to insulate themselves from the cold winter weather. Others even feed on it, breaking it down to even smaller pieces. Birds love feasting upon the seed heads of our fried flower heads, so allow them to stay staring in your garden! Not only do the birds love it, but it will create a nice contrast against the snow.  Fall pruning could actually cause more harm than good to your bushes and trees. Buddleia Butterfly Bushes should not be cut in the fall as the loss of insulating branches and stored sugars may reduce their winter hardiness. The same goes for ornamental grasses and most other woody plants. Don't cut them yet! They also provide food and shelter for the insects that pollinate our gardens, while looking gorgeous swaying in the wind against the snow in the winter.  By not pruning in the fall, you're nourishing the landscape and providing valuable resources for the wildlife!

Bring in Houseplants! Adding plants to your home is the perfect way to decorate in a unique way, while also benefitting your boy and mind. Read about all of their benefits HERE!

Create Your Container Gardens! You don't have to give up container gardening just because the temperatures are starting to get colder! Now is a great time to experiment with texture and color in your container gardens and you can read some tips for winter container gardens HERE!

Winterize Be sure to shut off and drain any outdoor water pipes or irrigation systems that may freeze during the winter months. Use the last of the dry weather to paint sheds and fences with preservative before the winter arrives. Also make time to give evergreen hedges a final trim, if necessary, before harsher weather starts to set in. You can continue watering evergreens until the ground freezes. Soil must not be dry when winter arrives!

Harvest your Veggies! Harvest any frost-sweetened brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, and kale, but you can continue to thin lettuce and spinach! Stake top-heavy brassicas and draw up some soil around the base of the stem to prevent wind rocking the plant and causing damage to its roots. You can also build a raised bed to take the bending out of vegetable growing! View all our veggies at Bountiful Gardens HERE!