Eden Project’s 10 tips for gardeners in November
November 8, 2010
Author: Tom
- Make leaf mould, a free and sustainable material perfect for mulching and adding bulk to your soil. Just rake and bag fallen leaves then wait at least 18 months until you have black, crumbly soil. Keep it separate from your compost heap as it’s slow to break down.
- There is still time to plant last-minute spring bulbs.
- Cut back any frosted non-woody perennials (they look brown and mushy) to three inches from soil level and add them to your compost heap.
- Tidy up twigs, leaves and weeds but do leave some seed heads (sunflowers), woody material (fennel) and grasses: birds and insects will appreciate them and they look lovely in the frost too.
- If you want to provide stylish, welcoming habitats for wildlife, check out our range of wildlife hotels!
- Mulch bare vegetable areas to prevent winter rain from washing nutrients out of the soil, and also mulch over dormant perennials to protect them from winter cold.
- Cover mint and parsley to keep it frost-free and producing fresh greens for the kitchen. You could use our kitchen garden cloche.
- Dig out any remaining beetroots, potatoes or carrots before the frost gets them.
- Make sure that your bird feeders are squirrel-proof because if squirrels regularly visit your garden, they will eat your bulbs too!
- Get planning for Christmas: collect dried seed heads and cones to decorate the house, and plant paperwhites for scented table centres. If you need Christmas gift ideas, how about our Christmas gift bags?
Jargon buster
- Mulch: a covering to keep the weeds down, look decorative and stop water loss from the soil. Sometimes a mulch will do all three!
- Perennials: plants that return year after year. Some lose their top growth in the winter and re-emerge in the spring.
By Louisa Evans
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5 responses to Eden Project’s 10 tips for gardeners in November
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Is it wise to mulch the leaves of the black walnut?
We’ll check with our Green Team and let you know…
Hi Brian
As black walnut trees contain a natural substance called Juglone, which stops the growth of many plants, it’s not a good idea to mulch or add to your compost heap. If you want more advice on what’s good and bad for your compost heap you can read our top composting tips.
Hope this helps, Nina
I can see it’s better to be safe than sorry with walnut leaves, however, the research on what happens to Juglone (the chemical of concern) appears mixed and inconclusive (check Wiki, Cornell nsu, etc).
Some suggest only the roots make the chemical in toxic concentration, others say included leaves. Some indicate broken down in compost heap, others that it’s not. Some suggest Juglone kills composting bacteria – but this seems of the mark – it is a plant growth inhibitor (‘herbicide’) not a bacteria killer (‘fungicide’)
I’ve not tested… but looking at the chemical formula, I can see similar aromatic/naptha chemicals that are broken down by hot composting bacteria. If your heap gets hot and you mature the compost correctly I can’t see it is an issue. Maybe go easy and do not add a huge amount all in one go. It’s quick and easy to check mature compost by doing a Cress seed germination test.
If you do not compost it – what’s the alternative? If it goes to council, likely to end up composted, leave it lying around and it will disperse and it will be naturally be composted in the garden.
Leaf mould is fine… but you can also add leaves to your hot composting bin and have great compost ready for spring!
Hot composting at 60C through winter is possible – have a look at HotBin Composting