-
0 item(s) in your barrow at £0.00 Wheelbarrow
You have no items in your shopping cart.
- Pre-Order Basket (0)
JOHN'S GARDEN, 'ONE OF THE FINEST GARDENS IN THE UK', IS OPEN EVERY SATURDAY more
- Home
- Gardeners’ Corner
- Calendar
- November
- The Fruit and Vegetable Garden
The Fruit and Vegetable Garden
Start winter digging; particularly on clay soils but only if soil and weather conditions permit. Leave the soil in ridges and in cubes for the frost to break down. Avoid working and walking on the soil when it is too wet or frozen. Clear away the tops of legumes such as runner beans but leave roots in situ as a source of nitrogen. Net all brassicas against pigeons, tucking in all edges and making it high enough above crops for the birds not to bend it down to reach food. Cover winter lettuce with glass cloches or plastic structures.There is still time to sow a green manure crop of field beans that can be dug in next spring to feed and improve the soil structure. Apply slow acting phosphate fertilizers such as Bonemeal, alternatively Superphosphate of Lime if acidity is a problem. Sow the hardier types of long pod broad beans and early round dwarf peas in sheltered sites.
Keep an eye on bay trees, being prepared to move indoors or cover in fleece temporarily in frosty weather. Standard bays are at most risk from stems freezing and can be insulated with pipe lagging during cold weather only. Watch out for scale insect attack and subsequent sooty mould. The sooty mould will wash off but treat the scale with Provado Ultimate Bug Killer (use only pesticides approved for food crops and follow the instructions).
New stocks of freshly lifted fruit tree will become available during the month. Plant in well-prepared sites that have been double dug and manured according to soil type. Insert stakes before planting. Remember that some very dwarf rootstocks will require staking throughout their life. All fruit benefits from an application of Root Grow (beneficial mycorrhizal beneficial fungi) sprinkled on the roots to aid root development. Mulch all fruit both top and soft types with generous amounts of well-rotted organic matter.
Woolly aphid on apple trees is a common problem and this can be eradicated by either using a pressure sprayer with a mix of Ultimate Fruit & Vegetable Bug Killer or by applying Vitax Winter Tree Wash. Apple canker is becoming a major problem and can kill whole branches or even complete trees if it is allowed to girdle a stem completely. This is a good month to cut out infected wood at least two feet into healthy material, burning all infected wood. Collect any fallen apples showing signs of apple brown rot, as this disease over winters on rotting fruit and is spread by birds, rain and insects. There are now no fungicides available to treat diseases of fruit such as peach leaf curl. Improving the vigour of all top and soft fruit by feeding in early spring with a slow release fertiliser such as Osmacote helps deter a lot of these problems.
Pruning of apples and pears in winter usually involves dramatic heavy thinning to reshape and restructure older specimens while formative and initial pruning of younger plants can also be done this month. Fruit trees trained against walls can be pruned and all remaining branches securely tied in. Avoid pruning fruit trees of the stone types (plums, gages and cherries) at this time of the year. Clear away any unwanted vegetation from the base of fruit trees and mulch with a thick layer of homemade compost or animal manure. Apply slow acting phosphate fertilizers such as Bonemeal. If excess acidity is a problem Superphosphate of Lime can be added.
Finish pruning cane fruit (except autumn fruiting raspberries). Thin out raspberry canes if overcrowded and tie in well to prevent gale damage while newly planted raspberries should be cut down and not allowed to fruit in their first season. All other cane fruit like blackberries should have surplus fruited canes removed and new shoots tied in to the support system. Prune gooseberries and red currants in a similar method to apples, opening up the bushes to admit light and air by removing to ground level some of the older branches. Only four or five main branches are needed on gooseberries building these up with numerous fruiting spurs. Shoots on red and white currants are normally completely cut out with remaining shoots shortened by late summer pruning. Black currants are not pruned at this time of the year but immediately after fruiting or alternatively in January.
In Our Shop
Don't miss out - Sign up to our newsletter to receive the latest news and offers straight to your email
- © Copyright 2024 Ashwood Nurseries
- Kaweb Design