This week is the time to get your roses planted! And while you may have probably planted most of your spring bulbs by now, it’s not too late to add tulips to the mix, ready to create a riot of colour next season.
What to do this week:
Cover vulnerable plants growing outdoors with cloches or horticultural fleece if severe frost is forecast.
Clear out and take under cover decorative containers that are not frost-hardy. Protect pots containing plants of borderline hardiness with insulation and group them together in a sheltered spot.
Plant roses if conditions permit, or heel in if the weather is frosty.
Prune wisteria to ensure and increase flowering next year.
Continue to clear fallen leaves and other debris so slugs, snails and other pests have nowhere to overwinter.
Harvest vegetables including the first Brussels sprouts, kale, cabbages, spinach, turnips, swedes and Jerusalem artichokes.
Check bulbs, corms and tubers in store and remove any showing signs of disease.
Clear away overhanging vegetation from heather beds which need to be sited in sunny, open spots.
Begin pruning greenhouse vines once the leaves have fallen.
Remove dead or decaying branches from trees to stop high winds causing damage and expense.
Continue to cut back any remaining faded marginal plants from your pond.
Store maincrop carrots in wooden boxes of sand, or sifted, dry soil in a cool but frost-free place like a garage or garden shed.
Plant Japanese onion sets if not yet done.
BEST OF THE BUNCH – Berberis
Their spine-tipped leaves make them an ideal deterrent for burglars, especially when grown as a flowering hedge, but there are many other good points for growing berberis too. Their yellow or burnt orange flowers in late spring are followed by red or purple berries in autumn and many of the deciduous types are a sight to behold at this time, when their leaves turn fiery shades.
Berberis, whether deciduous or evergreen, are easy to grow in sun or semi-shade and make good informal hedges or filler plants, while their more compact varieties also do well in pots. Try ‘Aurea’, which has yellow leaves and grows to around 60cm (2ft) or the more compact and low-growing B. thunbergii atropurpurea ‘Bagatelle’, which has dark red leaves.
Other good choices include the evergreen variety B. darwinii, which bears loose clusters of burnt orange flowers in late spring and purple berries in autumn, and B. verruculosa, which grows to 1.5m (5ft) and bears golden flowers in early summer followed by shiny purple fruits.
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