Speaker 1: So yeah's the origin that business in many fell our house,
it's the what actually us now and in the dark
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He's save from the shop. He's not in the dark
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Hey everyone, and welcome back to your daily dose of
Gardening with Ben. The podcasts that are coming to you
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that is happening. So yesterday's podcast episode we talked about
everything that you can plant in November, so if you've
not listened to that podcast, make sure you do give
it or listen to because there's plenty of things that
we can still plant in the garden around this time
of year, so why not give them a try and
see what you can grow. I'm trying to grow plenty
of stuff down at my allotment at this time of year,
so follow me and let's see if we can grow
some stuff together. So today's episode we're going to be
talking about all the things that you can be doing
in the allotment to do the improvements and get everything
ship shape ready for next year for the allotment. So
we're going to be talking about that in today's podcast.
So let's have a look at what jobs need doing
down in the allotment. First of all, we're going to
be talking about all the jobs which need doing in
the vegetable garden. At this time of year. I can
always say is why not add these into a notebook
so that you know when you've done stuff, you can
tick it off and complete it. That is how I
tend to work. I usually write down little jobs or
things that I need to do down at the allotment,
and then months i've done it, I tick it off
and that's how I get all my plot ready for
the year ahead. And usually I'm on track of things.
I've nearly got all my allotment cleared, already ready for
next year and well ahead of getting everything ready. So
first off, in the vegetable garden, you need to clear
away any spent crops like that means like get rid
of all your tomato plants, get ready to cucumbers, get
ready to sweet corn. Any squash plants that I'm rotten away,
get them all cleared away and put on your compost
heat because you've got to be careful of diseases that
are left spreading around and stuff like that. It's good
to get everything cleared away so that nothing's festering down
on the allotment. Next up is harvest the last of
your winter vegetables. Harvest your hardy winter vegetables like cabbages, leaks,
brussels sprouts, and kale, and usually parsnips as well, after
the first few frosts because it adds nice taste to
the parsnip. Never harvests them until after you've had a
couple of frosts. The frosts always improve the taste of them.
The same girls for leaks and brussels sprouts, sprout sprouts,
they always taste better after a couple of frosts because
they can improve their flavor. Like I said yesterday and
yesterday episode, plant your garlic and your onions, as these
are over wintering vegetables and they can fill a bed
up and you can get some harvests from them next year.
And obviously you can once you've harvested them, you can
fill the bed with some because they'll be ready around
junjer lined time, so there's still plenty of time to
grow over vege in them beds. Mulchi vegetable beds of
organic much like straw compost or well lot of manure
over your vegetable beds. Mulching helps protect the soil from erosion,
suppresses the weeds, and improves the soil ready for next year.
Prepare soil for spring planting. Yes, get that soil ready. Now,
that is what I've done it. If you've been watching
my YouTube videos, you'll see that I've nearly cleared every
single bed on the plot. I've dug it all over.
I've not necessarily got all the weeds out, We've just
dug it over, clear them all, got all the main
big weeds out. But over the winter period we'll keep
digging them over, getting all them roots out, getting all
that bind weed out, and obviously breaking up the soil.
When the frost comes it can get in the soil
and break it all down really well and nice ready
for next year. Protect perennial vegetables. If you have vegetables
like asparagus, are to choke or rhubarb. It's important to
protect them against frost. Cut back asparagus after they have
died back and mulch around crowns of perennials to insulate
them ready for the freezing temperatures. Rubarb usually does all right.
My rubarb usually survives well through winter. It's been in
my allotment now for twenty years and it's still alive now,
so that usually starts going back around March time. Clean
and store your garden tools. Yes, this is one job
that I don't always do, but it's a good time
to wash them down, scrub them down, get rid of
any dirt of them because they can harbor diseases and
obviously oil your tools up to prevent rust over the
winter months as well, and it'll make your tools last
years to come. Repair any raised beds and garden structures. Now,
this is one job that I always do for the winter,
which I always bleed on out in these podcasts. You
probably sick to hearing them about it, but I always
use the winter period to do any repairs to my allotment,
get things straight and tidy, and improve the shed. There's
always work to be done in the shed, especially if
you do love being in your shed like I do.
There's always improvements that you can do to that. Cover
bear soil with green manure. If you have empty patches
in your vegetable garden, consider growing and sewing green manure
such as mustard or winter rye. These cover crops to
help protect soil from erosion, suppress wheeds, and add valuable
organic matter and nutrients back into the soil when turned
in before spring planting. I've never actually grown green manure.
Let me know by sending me a message if you
have ever grown green manure before, I'd love to hear
about it. Protect crops in the greenhouse or got coal frames.
If you've got crops or anything growing your coal frames
or greenhouse, why not add some bubble wrap to keep
it warm protected, or use a greenhouse heater to keep
things warm. I don't use a heater down at the
allotment or the polytonic because I'm never there in the week,
so I don't want to leave a heater on when
I'm not there. But if you've got it in your garden,
keep it nice and warm and you'll protect your crops
over the winter. Plan next year's garden. This is what
I always do. I always draw a plan of my
allotment to see what it looks like, think about what
I'm going to grow, aware and try and rotate crops around.
You don't want to plant the same stuff in the
same place year after year because obviously they take the
nutrients from the ground, so different vegetables use different nutrients.
So that is why you should keep moving stuff around.
And obviously if there's diseases in the soil from the
previous year, you don't want to pass it onto the
new year's growth. Protect brassicas from pests. There's still lots
of pests around, like pigeons and other wildlife. Use getting
a mesh to protect these crops from being eaten during
the winter months because it's not much around them to
eat at the moment. So protect you like kale, cabbages,
your cauliflower, your broccoli, any over wintering crops. Dig up
and store your root vegetables, So now is the time
to be like digging up your carrots, your parsnips. Obviously,
like with parsnips, like I said, wait until we've had
a few frosts, because it adds flavor to them and
your beet roots. You can store them in a dark
place packed in sand or sawdust and they'll stay fresh
for several months. Cleaning organize your greenhouse. Now is the
time to be cleaning it down, disinfecting it, sweeping it
all out, tidying it up. The reason why we disinfect
it is because there's diseases in there and it prevents
any mold and stuff like that. It's a good idea
to wash your greenhouse down thiole so that it lets
more lighting through the windows through winter, because obviously they're
more like the that keeps it warmer. So give it
a good scrub down because they do get green and
they get moss growing in them and everything like that.
Give it a good washed out, and make sure you
check all like the pegs and everything to make sure
it's all sturdy for the winter period because obviously we
get the winds, we get the storms and stuff like that.
So it's good to check over a greenhouse and make
sure it's all sturdy and ready for the year ahead.
So next up we're going to talk about what needs
to be done in the fruit garden throughout November. There's
plenty of jobs which need doing around in the fruit
garden to protect those fruit trees and bushes ready for
getting great crops next year. Now, November is a perfect
time to prune apple and pear trees. Don't prune plums,
don't prune cherries. You don't prune anything that's got a
stone inside it until around summertime. That is when you
prune your plums and your cherries apricots. So you can
only prune apple and pears at this time of year. Now,
be careful when you're pruning them. Don't know what I did,
agumen Man a massive prune last year my cooking apple tree,
and it's not fruited this year because I've stressed it out.
I believe that is what they call it. So only
prune it as much as it needs to sometimes, don't
go over the top. Just give it a tiny bit
of a prune, and then prune it some more of
the year after. So hopefully I'm not going to provee
Man this year, so hopefully I'll get lots of cooking
apples next year. Much around fruit trees and bushers, this
helps give nutrition back to the plants and helps feed them,
and it insulates the roots from freezing temperatures, retains the
moisture as suppresses the weeds. But if you're put it
much around your fruit trees, don't put them right up
to the trunk, as it can cause rotten. Leave a
bit of a gap around the trunk. Harvest the last
of the autumn fruits. Make sure you have your apples,
your pears, quinces. These can sometimes benefit from the color weather.
It enhances sweetness and the flavor of the apples, so
make sure you get all them harvested ready far the winter.
If not, the squirrels or pinch them. Protect fruit your
soft fruit plants from the frost. Like your strawberries, your
raspberries and other soft fruits can be vulnerable to frost damage.
Protect them by covering the crowns with straw fleets or
mult to help insulate them during the colder months. This
will prevent frost from penetrating too deeply and harming the plants.
Plant new fruit trees and bushes. As I said in
yesterday's episode, now is the perfect time to plant your
fruit trees and your bushes. Prune your raspberry canes for
summer fruits. In raspberries, prune back the canes that have
fruited this year, leaving the new canes for next season's crop.
Autumn fruits in raspberries should be cut down to ground
level after they have finished producer. This process encourages strong,
healthy growth in the springtime and they will produce new
fruit on them new canes. Clean up any fallen leaves
and through clearing up any fallen leaves and fruit and
debris around your fruit trees and bushes, it's important to
prevent the spread of disease and pests. Many fungal diseases
can overwinter in the soil on decaying thruit, so moving
any material to help maintain a healthier environment for your plants.
Protect fruit trees from pests. I usually give mine a
good winter spray down over the winter months and then
spray them again with springtime. Stops any moths from hibernating
in the trees. Also get some sticky bands to stop
wingless insects like winter moss from climbing the tree and
laying the eggs in the bark, which could also damage
the spring tree in springtime, check and repair any fruit cages.
Take off all your netting over winter to stop because
you don't want it all getting ripped with snow and
winter damage so take off all your netting for the
winter to protect it, and then put it back on
again in the springtime. Prune your gooseberries and your currants again.
Prune these back, remove any dead or crossing branches, and
thin out the center of the plant to improve air circulation.
This will reduce the risk of disease. Now you can
divide and replant mobile crowns. If you rubib crowd plants
have become overcrowded, November is the perfect time to lift
and divide the crowns. Carefully, dig up the plants, split
it intersections with a sharp spead, and replant the divisions.
This will rejuvenate the plants and improve their productivity. Plant fruit, canes,
and vines. As we said in the previous episodiode, now
is the time to be planting all them. Check stored through.
If you're storing any apples or pears or fruits, regularly
check them for any signs rot or damage. Remove any
effected fruit to prevent the rot from spreading to the
healthy ones. Protecting grape vines, now is the time to
prune and winter rise them. Cut back this year's growth
to encourage strong vines next year, and cover the base
of the planet with mulch to protect the roots from
freezing temperatures. Consider wrapping the vines with fleece in cold
regions to prevent frost damage to them. So let's talk
about what you can actually do in the flower garden
this month. There's still lots that need doing to get
them gardens looking absolutely gorgeous for next year. You need
to put in the effort and tidy them up ready
for next year. So this is all the jobs which
you can do in the flower garden. Lift and store
tender bulbs and tubers, so that means lifting any like
gladiolized bagournias to protect them from the frost. Carefully dig
them up, clean off the soil and allow them to
drive for a few days in a shelter place, and
then put in a box full of sand. Plant flink
spring flowering bulbs. Like I said in my previous episode,
now is the perfect time to be planting other spring
bulbs like your daffodils, your hyacims, your tulips, everything like
that to encourage the bees to come to your allotments
and too your gardens. Protect delicate plants from frost. Any
plants are prone to getting frost damage. Like your caners,
your futures geraniums. Protect them from frost, and if you're
worried about them, fetch them windows in a shed, in
a polytunnel, pot them up and keep them warm until
next year. Cut back perennials. Now is the time to
cut back any spent growth on any perennials like pioneers, hostas,
and delphiniums. Trim back dead foliage to ground level to
tidy up the garden and prevent disease or pests from
over winter in. Prune your roses if you've got any
climbing roses, any rambling roses, any roses, cut back long
shoots to prevent them from being damaged by winter winds.
Remove any dead, diseased or crossing branches. For hybrid t
and floor bunder roses, focus on pruning in late winter,
but you can likely trim them now to tidy it up.
Multi flowerbeds. Applying a thick colout of mulch around your
flower beds helps to protect the plant roots from freezing.
Improve soil structure suppresses winter weeds. Use organic materials like
compost or well rotted manure or leaf mold or bar
chips and spread it around the base of plants after
cutting back perennials. Checking clean your garden structures. Like I mentioned,
make sure you clean them all down, clean down oi pergolas,
trelliss plant supports. You don't want no diseases on them.
Even if you use antibacterial spray that will clean them
up and stop any diseases from spreading around. So many
hardy annual seeds. So now you can be sewing your
sweet peas, poppies or cornflowers. This will give them all
a head start ready for next year. But make sure
you save them inside your greenhouse or your polyton away
is warmer, because the frost can kill them outside. Protect
your alpine plants. If you've got any alpine plants, make
sure you cover the plants with grit to improve drainage
and prevent water logging, which can cause them to rot.
Some delicate alpine plants may also need protection from excessive
winter moisture. Planning your next year's flower displayers. Now I've
said this in an episode the other day. Now is
the time to be planning for next year. Think about
all them flowers that you want to try and grow
in the where you want to grow different varieties that
you want to try and grow. Think about it or
have a look online, have a looking brochures, or go
into the garden centers, get those packets of seeds or
bulbs and think about what you're going to be growing
next year. Because think about it now can make some
beautiful blooms for next year in the garden. So that
is everything what you need to be doing in your
garden and an allotment in November. Obviously there's other stuff
that you can be doing, but those are the main
tasks that need doing. So I hope you've enjoyed today's episode.
It has been a long episode. I know that. But
tomorrow we'll be back with the normal episodes talking about
different jobs, what we've been up to at the lotment
and different things what you can do in the garden
and allotments at this time and yeah, sharing more tips
that advice as usual. If you don't follow me, do
give me a follow. Feel free to leave a comment
and leave a review as well. Until next time, everyone,
remember keep smiling, keep shining, and keep gardening with bet. Everyone.
Thank you for joining me on this episode of Gardening
with Ben. I hope you have found some useful tips
and instegiration for your own gardening, and a lotment journey.
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