13 November 2026

November in the Garden: Time to reflect

The clocks have gone back; temperatures have dropped and much of the UK has been shrouded in mist – autumn has definitely arrived. There are still jobs to do in the garden and allotment, but we can definitely slow down now, the frenetic season of sowing, growing and hoeing is over, and we can really take our time, pause and reflect.

Having said that, November is the time when we can leave the gym and get our workout fix from being outside – raking leaves, digging soil, pruning and planting bare root fruit trees, roses and shrubs.

On The Allotment

If you are planning building new raised beds or adding organic material to existing ones there is still plenty of time to do that before hard frosts arrive. I like to add a good layer of Durstons Soil Conditioner or Farmyard Manure to all of my beds to add nutrients, texture, and a layer of protection to the underlying soil.

If you haven’t yet netted any overwintering veg such as cabbages, now is the time to do this before the hungry birds decimate them.

There is still time to sow broad beans directly into the ground, just make sure you use the right variety. I always grow ‘Aquadulce’, but ‘Sutton’ is a good dwarf variety. I’m also sowing the hardy pea, ‘Meteor’ directly into the soil but I will pop some fleece over the top to deter mice.

Onion and garlic need planting before the end of this month now as they do best after a period of cold. You can plant sets and individual cloves direct into the ground or fill up a decent pot with a good multi-purpose peat free compost like Durstons Organic Multi-Purpose Compost and place it somewhere sunny. Planting in modules stops birds pulling at the early growth that they think are worms, but you can plant directly into the ground, just be vigilant and push them back in the ground if this happens.

Make sure you’ve cleared your polytunnel or greenhouse of tomato plants and give the plastic or windows a clean to allow maximum light in. I’m still sowing some late winter greens including spicy salad mix into large seed trays using Durstons Peat Free Seed and Cutting Compost and will plant some out in early spring, but others I will harvest as baby leaves in about 3 weeks’ time.

Start to prune your fruit bushes such as currants, blueberries and gooseberries now and then give them a good mulch. You can take hardwood cuttings from these bushes to get more plants for free.

Autumn fruiting raspberries can be cut back now and again add a layer of mulch around the base afterwards.

In The Garden

As in October, you still need to leave the big cut back until spring, not just for wildlife but also as food and shelter for wildlife.

Mulching can still be done, especially if like me, many plants that had gone on flowering for much longer in October such as cosmos and zinnias have finally finished. I collected the dried seeds ready to sow next year and have added some soil conditioner to the ba soil.

Plant tulips now! – I absolutely adore tulips and now is finally the time to start. You can wait until end of December, but I am too impatient. I’ve planted some in the ground but most I’ve planted in troughs that I can move around the garden. You can use a good peat free multi-purpose compost, but I like to use a bulb fibre such as Durstons Peat Free Bulb Fibre. Bulbs absolutely hate sitting in wet and bulb fibre is free draining so really reduces the chance of rot if we have a very wet winter.

You can make a lasagne planter using bulbs that flower at different times and now is perfect for this as you don’t want to leave it any later to plant daffodils and iris, but you are safe to now plant tulips as the bottom layer. A lasagne planter is having different layers of flowers and is perfect if you have a small garden and are short on space.

Choose a large pot for maximum impact but deep enough to accommodate the tulips as bulbs need to be planted at least twice their depth.
Add a good layer of bulb fibre to the bottom and add the tulips.
Cover with another layer of compost and add the daffodils.
Cover again and then plant the iris bulbs, these are the earliest and smallest flowering, so they always go on the top.
Cover these with more compost and add a thick layer of grit or small gravel to deter squirrels and to smarten the effect.
Place somewhere sheltered but outside and water.

You can add some winter flowering violas to the top if you like for extra colour through the winter.

If you have noticed any gaps in your garden, why not plant a new shrub, rose or small tree. Most nurseries start selling bare root plants in November through till the beginning of March and not only are these cheaper to buy, you get a much bigger choice of varieties than you would when they are sold in containers.

Bare root roses are a particular favourite of mine to plant now as the soil is generally warmer than it will be in early spring and there is moisture around too, all to help healthy root development.

If you are short on space, then you can still plant bare root roses in containers. Just make sure you choose a large container and a good peat free compost, either a rose, tree and shrub compost or a John Innes based compost such as Durstons Peat Free John Innes No 3 compost.

My 3 favourite roses to grow in containers are:

Rosa ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ – a gorgeously scented, bright pink rose
Rosa ‘Emily Bronte’ – large, sweetly scented blooms, fading from soft apricot to pale cream.
Rosa ‘Olivia Rose Austen’ – mid pink cupped petals with a fruity frangrance that can bloom until November,

Sow perennials – If you have some covered space, think about sowing some perennials. It’s so easy to only think about sowing annuals but many perennials can be sown and flower within a year and a few need a period of cold, making November the optimum time to start. Echinacea, Eryngium, Gaura and Achilea. They all need growing undercover, and some like a bit of bottom heat to aid germination but will flower next year. All of these are wonderful for pollinators.

Start them off in a seed tray filled with Durstons peat free seed and cutting compost and transplant them into 8cm pots filled with a peat free multi-purpose compost when their true leaves have formed.

Lawns – Now the rains have arrived there is still a small window to do lawn repair, especially if you live in the south. Now is your last chance to get some lawn seed down to take root but there is still time to scarify, aerate and add some lawn dressing or topsoil to bare patches. Keep raking leaves off the garden and add them to black bin liners with holes punctured in them and pop these behind your shed to rot down into leaf mould next year. Keep off the lawn as much as possible as it becomes wetter over late autumn.

Take Time

Lots of people online will be encouraging you to put the garden to bed now but for me there is still so much to be gained from being outside and seeing the season change. There are definite tasks you should leave and that includes trying to tidy up too much by cutting back everything and avoid walking on your soil to much but don’t stop mulching.

Unless it’s absolutely pouring down, I still want to be in my garden or on the allotment. That might include just sitting down with a cuppa listening to the birds, starting to prune, mulch or making wildlife shelters. For me, November is definitely not the time to just look from my window. I need to be out there, sowing and growing what I can and breathing some fresh air until the winter frosts and storms hit.

Whatever autumn throws at us, just remember to step outside, breath and enjoy.

Come and Grow with Kate

Three reels a week on Instagram and Facebook — harvests, allotment updates, and everything in between.