From Sonairte
November 3rd 2009
No it isn't too late to do garden work - in fact this is a busy time in the garden. And a busy evening time for gardeners as well.
Out of doors weeds are still growing and need to be mulched to stop the light getting to them. Collected leaves are really good for this. And those leaves are really precious - collect as many as you can and store them in bins or black bags to break down into leaf mould for your seed sowing compost two years from now. Gardeners need to think ahead!
There is still time to sow overwintering garlic and broad beans - both of them go directly into the ground six inches apart. And I find that covering them with fleece gets them off to a flying start. You'll be glad you did it when you have beans to pick at the end of May and garlic at the end of June. In fact I like to start pulling it green from late May. I got organic Valellado garlic from Fruit Hill Farm
And you can still plant out winter salad plants and cabbages - again, fleece helps it get away to a good start.
Don't tidy too much around the garden. Remember that all that garden litter is protecting your black beetles, which will munch away on slug eggs through the winter. Drifts of leaves may be hedgehog homes, and bundles of hollow twigs may shelter bumble bees, as will flat stones. Time enough to do the big tidy next spring - think how lovely those dead twigs will look sparkling with frost on a January morning.
In the evenings it is time to review the last year and order those seed catalogues to decide what you are going to experiment with next year
