November Garden Diary

I have to confess, my garden has been low on the list of priorities over the last few weeks, but at this time of year a certain amount of neglect is perfectly acceptable. It feels a relief to just let it relax into itself and I do very little tidying up and clipping back, preferring to leave the skeletons and seed heads until late winter or early spring. One thing that does need to be done soon is bulb planting. I’ve had one rather rushed tulip-planting session so far to fill some pots, but I’m less keen to plant into the ground at the moment because it’s been so monumentally wet. I have some camassias waiting to be planted under the willow tree and 50 ‘Belle Epoque’ tulips to go into the back border, and I keep planning a session and then putting it off because of the rain. Maybe it will happen this weekend…

I always buy a few new tulips each year to put in large pots. It may seem wasteful but I grow these as annuals as they never flower well the following year. In pots, the bulbs are subject to more stress than they would be if planted in a border so they tend to split into smaller bulblets after flowering; in the ground, where they can be planted deeper and cooler, there is more chance that they will re-bloom successfully the following year. In pots, I use a peat-free multipurpose compost mixed with grit to help drainage and really cram them in, with just a thumb’s width between each bulb for a generous display. You can afford to plant them much closer together in a pot than you would in the ground, and they will flower just as well in that first year.

Tulip bulbs ready to be covered with compost

For some of the larger pots I choose a ready-put-together collection (this year the Salsa Mix from Peter Nyssen) that will flower roughly at the same time; for smaller pots I’ll put single varieties in each pot and juggle the pots around when they’re in flower. I’ve just ordered a few last-minute bulbs from Farmer Gracy (who tend to have very good sales at this time of year) with the plan to plant a few more pots using the bulb lasagne method that Sarah Raven has popularised. This sounds tricky but it’s really easy to do. You start with the latest flowering bulbs first, so in my case late-flowering tulips ‘Charming Lady’ and ‘Mount Tacoma’, laid out on top of the compost roughly halfway up the pot to give them an eventual depth of 15-18cm. Cover these with a good layer of compost before adding a layer of narcissus such as ‘Thalia’ or ‘Minnow’. Repeat by adding more compost, and then finish the lasagne with a layer of small Iris reticulata bulbs. I’ve chosen a cultivar called ‘Blue Note’, and these will flower first, towards the end of February. By the time these are fading, the narcissus will start to flower amongst the narrow foliage of the iris, and finally towards the end of April and into May, the tulips will start to bloom, giving you a good three month’s flowering out of one pot.

Iris reticulata bulbs at the top of a bulb lasagne need only to be covered with a very fine layer of compost, their pointy tops just visible

Garden Tasks for November

• clear up leaves as they fall

• protect tender plants from frost

• lift dahlias or mulch with compost or leaf mould

• plant bare root trees and shrubs

• raise containers up on bricks to prevent waterlogging

• prune roses to prevent windrock

• cut back geraniums and other soft-stemmed plants

• leave robust seed heads for the birds and a good winter display

• have an autumn tidy-up and a bonfire