2 weeks Ago By Matt Jackson
With November bringing the colder weather , many gardeners will be worrying about what they can plant now to help their plots flourish. It can even be an “overwhelming” experience looking through all of the information to find out what will last through the winter. Well, expert Niall Gardens says now is a good time to grow a variety of plants, including edibles and flowers.
Niall’s aim is to offer “incredible” and “easy to grow” plants that offer a mix of colour, scent, and food. And, with November now well and truly here, his first plant to put in your garden now is garlic. He said: “Garlic is easy because rather than having to start something from seed, you can buy the cloves, stick them straight in the ground and come early summer next year, you’re going to have a great crop of something brilliant.
“Garlic thrives when it’s planted in late autumn because it allows the bulbs to establish before winter. They’re going to sit fairly dormant and then they’re going to kick off in the spring.” Niall says garlic should be planted in a sunny, well-drained spot, with each individual clove broken off.
They should then be planted “pointy-side up” with bigger bulbs spread out and planted deeper in the soil. For those wanting a more aesthetic plant to put in their garden now, Niall recommends the Allium Nectaroscordum. He says they are a unique flower that is great for pollinators and provides a gap filler in your flower beds.
And, because it grows from bulbs, Niall says there is less uncertainty than growing from seed or cuttings. Another edible suggestion for November planting is broad beans. Niall explains: “I really do think that growing broad beans is one of the easiest, high-powered, abundant and tasty things that you can grow at home.
Because broad beans are hardy plants, you can get them started now in the autumn. “They’ll grow slowly over winter but then will kick into life properly in the spring. And because you get a bit of a headstart you get a nice early harvest in late spring.
” For anyone wanting to spend a bit more cash, Niall suggested a mahonia as an “investment piece”. He says he likes his stand-out shrubs to “look good from a distance”, “look great close-up” and have an “all-year round interest”. He says the waxy, spiny leaves resemble holly but have a different pattern.
While the rough bark has more interest and the evergreen plant flowers mainly into the autumn/winter with distinctive yellow flowers and berries. His final choice is perpetual spinach, which Niall says is an “excellent choice” for gardeners wanting to grow a leafy green from seed. He added: “Despite its name, it’s not actually a true spinach, it’s actually a chard, also known as leaf beat.
” Niall says the plant is perfect in salads, stir-frys or sauteed. It is another plant he says can establish now and get harvested every six weeks, with its “cut and come again” providing a continuous growth..
