It might be cold and wet out there, but there are still important gardening jobs which need to be sorted in November – or it could risk damaging your garden’s soil and make it difficult to grow anything next year.
Garden experts say that November is actually the best time of year to check and fix a common soil problem which can hamper your whole garden if left unchecked.
Before the ground gets too wet from weeks of November rain, gardeners should check the pH levels of their soil and make sure it’s in the right range.
If not, you can add one thing to your soil to bring it back into the right reading level – what that one thing is depends whether you have too much acidity or it’s too alkaline.
Alan Buckingham, author of Allotment Month By Month, says in his ‘jobs for November’ advice that gardeners should add lime to the soil.
This is because soil can become too acidic over time.
He explains: “All soils are acid, alkaline or, as is much more common, neutral. It is not normally an issue, as most fruit and vegetables are fairly tolerant. If anything, they tend to prefer slightly acidic conditions. Only in extreme cases does it become a problem – when soils are either very acid or very alkaline, in which case you may be attempting to grow plants in inappropriate conditions.
“Acid soils are low in calcium. They can be made more alkaline by adding lime or a lime-rich material such as mushroom compost. Alkaline soils are high in calcium. They are trickier to make more acid – although you can try adding composted sawdust, pine bark, or pine needle leafmould.”
He continued: “Before the ground becomes too wet, test the pH value of your soil. If it’s too acid, spread some powdered lime over the surface and rake it in. But don’t add it at the same time as manure, because they react chemically with one another.”
Other tasks gardeners should complete in November include clearing away old plants, digging out weeds and spread compost over raised beds, as well as prune apples and pears for winter and get rid of any fallen, rotten fruit.
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