Hedgehoggs Gardening Tips: Till death do us part

Because of the late onset of Autumn weather, we've been able to continue planting hardy plants in what we call 'fill-in' spaces -- spaces where plants haven't made it through the season for one reason or another.

No matter how good the weather, or how good a gardner, sometimes some plants just don't make it. Sometimes they've been in a while and have died naturally. Other times, it's something else. Fluke positioning or micro-climate issues in a garden can mean that some plants thrive and others nearby don't. We see this in almost every garden to some extent. A plant in more sun gets larger in time while the same plant two or three down the line struggles in part shade.

At Hedgehoggs Gardening, we try to work with the natural environment as much as possible to ensure our client's garden look great and we aren't having to replace plants too often. At the end of the day, a dry loving plant isn't going to survive in a wet spot just as a sun loving plant will balk if it gets too much shade.

No matter how wonderful a design drawing looks on paper, if the plants don't like their position when they're planted, it's best to find an alternative spot for them while you have the chance and try a plant that is better suited to that particular spot.

Hedgehoggs Gardening Tips: Care for Hardy Herbaceous Plants

You can continue to deadhead around your garden as perennial growth has slowed but is still continuing uncharacteristically late into the season. Where you continue to see a few new growth buds, you can deadhead (removing the dead flowers only) and where stems of blooms have totally died, you can take the tops off in 6-12in lengths. Where perennials have grown large, stake them (if you haven't already) so they don't fall over. As leaves start to fall, pick up leaves lying on plants, but leave a small layer of leaves on the ground to protect tender plants and leave a haven for wildlife.

Exciting garden redesign in Highbury

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During

We're currently working on an exciting garden redesign at the moment. We've done some of the key parts of the job, like moving the box hedging and digging in rose bushes for future transplanting, cutting back ivy and fig trees. We can start to see the new garden literally taking shape now.

Gardens like this, and clients, are such a treat to work in and with. It's so exciting to come to work everyday and see the transformation you're making to someone's home. -- Ok, so it's not technically someone's actual house we're working on, but today more and more people (certainly in London) have transformed their garden into an outdoor living space. So in a way, when we work on projects like this we do feel like we're making a difference to how people live. Our clients often find they're able to spend much more time outside when they hire us because we make their outdoor space clean and inviting ... Like a living/dining room outdoors.

Check back in the spring to see how this one turns out...

Key Jobs: November

Top 10 things to do in the garden in November

Though the horror of Halloween is now behind us, November is far from a dead month for gardening. Though most plants should be dead or dying off by now, our mild weather has meant that Autumn gardens are still very much alive and kicking (at least, at the moment).

You never know exactly when old man winter will show his head, however, so at Hedgehoggs we're focusing on the following 10 things this November:

1. Clear fallen leaves: We leave some leaf cover on the ground for wildlife, but we're making sure we pick up all diseased leaves for burning (adding them to the compost heap only spreads disease next year).
2. Lawn Mow: Lawns are still growing, if a little bit more slowly now, so we're mowing less frequently.
3. Plant tulips
4. Deadhead flowering perennials
5. Store/cover lawn chairs and tables
6. Clean or throw out old pots
7. Dig over empty areas of soil
8. Plant new climbers
9. Divide overgrown perennials
10. Planting containers for winter colour

Photo: Shutterstock