Once the cold weather sets in, the soil becomes too wet and hard to work, and tender plants can easily suffer. These quick, simple tasks will help protect your plants, improve your soil, and make sure your garden bounces back beautifully in spring.
ALAN IS USING:
Seeds from Fothergills – https://rb.gy/rvkrp6
Fork, rake and hand shears from Spear and Jackson – https://rb.gy/6wl4lh
Soil Improver from Melcourt – https://rb.gy/f57db8
Outdoor plants and protective cover from Blue Diamond Garden Centres –
My name’s Alan Titchmarsh, and I’m absolutely delighted to welcome you to my YouTube channel! I’ve been a gardener for over 60 years and I can safely say that gardening is one of life’s greatest joys, and I can’t wait to share it with you.
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November is a great month to start preparing your garden for the winter. Here are four ways that I get my garden ready for the cold weather. [Music] Autumn is a brilliant time for preparing bare earth for what it’s going to accommodate the following year. Whether you’re making a flower bed or a border or attending to your veg patch in your kitchen garden, this is the time to get the soil in good heart so that when spring comes, plants will really thrive. Now on the veg patch, we used to dig to the depth of two spade blades, double digging. Gosh, it was hard. We don’t do that anymore. We do surface cultivations. If you’re bringing a plot under cultivation for the first time or digging a brand new border, then yes, dig to the depth of one spade blade and work in plenty of organic matter. You can do it from your garden compost heat or you can get it bagged as soil improver and just lightly work that into the surface. And this sort of cultivation to sort of half the depth of the prongs of the fork is quite sufficient. If you find that the soil is either too wet to cultivate, it sticks to the prongs of your fork, or it’s too hard with frost, stay off it. Organic matter like this is good for any kind of soil. On sandy soil, it will help hold on to moisture, particularly in dry spells. on clay soils. If as well as putting in organic matter, you add sharp grit, lots of it, that will also improve drainage. And grit doesn’t rot down like organic matter does, it lasts far longer. The combination of the two things on a clay soil built up on the top will give you wonderful growing material. [Music] And at this time of year, that’s the only cultivation you need. It can stay like that right the way through the winter, pulling off or hoing off the odd weed that might still come through. And then your ground is ready and waiting for those crops it’s going to receive come March and April. Certain plants need to be brought into the warmth for winter. Frosts will kill them. Things like citrus fruits, oranges, lemons. Bring them into your greenhouse or into a brightly lit room to make sure they survive the winter. Another tender plant that’s popular these days is the olive. It’s probably a good idea to steer clear of olive trees nowadays because of a disease called xylleella. But over the past few years, if you’ve bought one and you want to protect it and you know it’s healthy, you can get rolls of white fleece and you can wrap that round. You can also get these fleecy bags which are much easier to use. fit the bag over the plant and pull the drawstring at the bottom tight just to insulate it that little bit more. One plant you do need to pay attention to this time of year is the dia. They have tubers at the bottom, these big fat roots, but they are frost tender. If they get frosted, they’ll go mushy and rot. So you have two options. You can leave them in the ground having cut back the top growth and mulch the soil with about 8 cm 3 in of well-rotted compost or manure to lag them in effect and stop the frost penetrating. Or you can dig them up as I have done with this one. Shake the soil off the roots and then cut back the tops even further to about 10 cm 4 in. And as soon as they’ve dried, I stick them under the potting bench. And I leave them under there just like that right the way through into March when I take them out from underneath the bench, start them into growth again, and keep them either as plants or take cutings from them. And that way, because I’ve kept them frost free, they’re guaranteed to survive. [Music] Come November, you might be tempted to wade right through your borders, hacking everything back. Don’t be selective. Things like this catmint here, Nepita, that’s pretty much finished. And you can certainly have into that with your shears and take it back as far as you want. But when it comes to things like this geranium here, there’s a lot of green growth on that still. Be selective on what you’re cutting off there. These straggling shoots down the front. You can take those off, but leave that central green growth. Leave also any plants which are going to offer food to the birds through the winter. things like aringium the sea holly and grasses which look wonderful when the frost is on them and the winter sun set low is shining through them. So, by all means, cut off things which you know are not going to be any use to wildlife and any use to you to look at, but do it bit by bit by bit. [Music] So, I’m being quite dramatic with this cat mint, but as well as just tidying up the garden, what it’s doing is stopping this material here, which if I left it on, it’s got a hairy leaf plant, would have started to rot and just go down and make a soggy, gungy mess as we approach winter. Better to let the air circulate around it when it’s cut back. And it will overwinter with those roots below ground. So, as a general rule of thumb, if a plant is dying back and looking brown, you can cut it off almost to ground level. If it’s green and still growing, leave it. It’ll feed the roots by sending the nutrition down. And you’re robbing it of doing that if you take off good green growing foliage. [Music] So there are several clumps here now that I’ve cut back, but still plenty of health in there. Nothing has died out, and they’ll go through the winter happily like that. So here you have before and after. [Music] It’s very satisfying to get jobs done in a garden, have everything looking better. But it’s also important that you take time to relax looking at the seeds you grew this year and to look forward to some you might sew again next year or new things to try. So I go through my old seed packets thinking that didn’t do very well. That was great. I must grow that again. And make notes in the book of what’s going to grow where. And there’s nothing like anticipation of what’s to come for cheering you up. Sweet peas were great up the obelisks. I had to water them a lot to keep them going through the really hot weather and kept picking them. So new flowers were produced. Cosmos this year. Wow, they were amazing. So I definitely like those, especially the candy stripe ones. They did really well. [Music] You might think of autumn as the end of the year, but in a way it’s the beginning of the next year in terms of planning. It’s dreaming if you like, but dreams can turn into reality with a few packets of seed and a bit of careful conservation. Farmers always think that next year will be even worse. Gardeners know that next year will always be better than this one. It’s my dream to take gardening and the joys to as many people as possible. So, if you haven’t yet subscribed, click below because there’s lots more content to come.
27 Comments
Thank you for the great tips – always !!❤
This year i intend to watch my garden die back , noticing all the changes ,usually I'm a bit too tidy.Ive found this video particularly heartening in its positive approach to the seasons and planning ahead.Thankyou,I do enjoy learning and watching them
Beautiful garden . Thank you for the gardening tips.
We’ve had loads of rain this Autumn and it’s been very mild here in Cornwall ,my garden is still flowering especially the cosmos , I think I’ll be doing all my cutting back in winter, 😱
Can’t believe I’m actually getting ahead before Winter arrives. All tender plants are in the garden room, I’ve started laying compost on new beds and just tulip bulbs still left to plant.
Ive been busy making bags of fallen leaves for leaf mould for next year🍂🍁🍂
The soothing reassuring tones of Alan Titchmarsh . Watching on a Sunday morning with my first cup of coffee..ahhh ❤
You are right, next year the garden will be even better.
Love your philosophy Alan 🍂🌱🌷🪻⚘️🌻👍
Let’s hope the cats don’t fins that fresh soil.
Hello Alan thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge 😊
I'm planning a garden for my newly built house. It's a blank slate except for a few trees in the back. I've drawn at least 5 versions and will keep dreaming this winter, waiting for spring to come when I will probably plant something different entirely.
Every year I wish for a bigger garden. I end up with plants from seed and nowwhere to put them. I always believe I will find space and then cram me shed full. I need to curb my 'wanting every plant under the sun' but I know of no cure. However, I did treat myself to Amyrilis bulbs to have some indoor flowers for the winter. xxxxx 💜🪴🪴
Thank you Alan for another informative video! Particular the part about dahlias. I do not have a greenhouse so I bring my tender plants under the carport between the house and the garage where they do not get soaked and the temperature is just a bit warmer. Otherwise I leave the garden be till spring except for mulching my flower beds. I find dried plants looking more appealing than bare soil. They also give protection for insects and birds not to mention some seeds food supply. Sometime I plant new perennial plants like roses if the soil is still warm. Then I relax looking forward to spring when the work begins. ❤
❤ Really like your channel! 🎉
I cannot believe you are selling this wonderful property and the garden with it. Will you still be sharing gardening videos with us all? Curiouser and curiouser…
While the garden sleeps, the gardener dreams.
I dont have a garden but this year my mother has said i can use hers its a mess as no ones used it for a few years today me and the kids started we are exited so see what we can do with it hopefully i can made it look pretty and grow some carrots for 2026 so glad i see your channel and this video .
Thank you Alan, beautiful winter dreams
3:21 Tender? 😂 they are tough as old boots, but then I live in the Mediterranean zone…
I try to keep old debris around for wildlife, but unsure of how usefull my wilted perennials are to them. Still keep them looking dead and untidy. 🙂
Also have had success with green manure/cover crops on my allotment beds last season and this. They already cover and will over winter and be chopped and dropped.
I struggle knowing if I should clear up for my need of order, let it all be for wildlife. Would be great if you can advice on this in upcoming videos.
Alan. This is brilliant. If this is your dream you are fulfilling it. I’m pretty new and amateur but you make me feel that maybe I’m sort of slowly getting it and anyway, it’s fun. Thank you.
I prepare for next year by filling up the compost bin. Also collect bags of leaves and spread under border shrubs.
Nice video
Thank you!
I still have too many potatoes in the ground. That is my excuse for not cultivating my Veggie plot yet.
Alan how much is that compost costing ? I’m a pensioner and could afford it 😢