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Keeping an eye on the weather at this time of year is one of the most important gardening jobs you can do. Very tender plants like cannas and dahlias may well need lifting entirely whereas some hardier plants like the hardy banana Musa basjoo, can be left in the ground and protected from long, severe cold weather with insulation and waterproofing.聽

Some plants, like Monty鈥檚 tender banana, Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii', need protecting from low temperatures (Ensete prefers it above 5oC) which means if possible these needs lifting and potting and moving to a heated greenhouse or lifting and storing as a dormant plant. The link below has more details on over-wintering the different types of banana.聽

(www.rhs.org.uk)

Parham House & Gardens
Storrington
Nr Pulborough
West Sussex
RH20 4HS
Telephone: 01903 742021

The last two Sundays in October will offer the final opportunity to see Parham Gardens in 2014 (please see the link below). There are seven acres of pleasure grounds and four acres of walled garden and the lovely cut flower garden which is used for displays all over the house throughout the year.

(www.parhaminsussex.co.uk)

Monty fills his unheated greenhouse with salad leaves (brought as plugs from the internet) to grow over winter. He likes strong flavoured mustard, mizuna and endive but also plants hardy lettuce and spinach which have softer flavours and help to bulk a salad out.

Whilst most of these leaves would be able to survive outside, giving them the protection of some fleece, cloches or a greenhouse helps to reduce the amount of wind and rain damage they will be exposed to and increases the amount of fresh, healthy leaves you can harvest over the winter.

(www.rhs.org.uk)

Queenswood Country Park and Arboretum
Dinmore Hill 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽
Leominster
Herefordshire
HR6 0PY
Telephone: 01432 260073

The autumn garden at Queenswood arboretum is filled with Japanese maples with some almost 60 years old. It鈥檚 a wonderful place to see these trees mature and in their prime. In other parts of the arboretum are collections of Californian Redwoods and Oak species making this free to visit arboretum a must-see.

(www.herefordshire.gov.uk)

All summer chicory has been growing strong green foliage, which has been feeding the roots but is not very good to eat. Now it鈥檚 getting colder you鈥檒l find the new inner leaves are starting to appear. They are sweeter and lovely raw, grilled or steamed, so it鈥檚 a good idea to remove this summer's foliage so it doesn鈥檛 fall on the new shoots, causing them to rot. Then you鈥檒l have a delicious harvest right through the coming months.

(www.pfaf.org)

It鈥檚 time to prepare your rhubarb for optimum performance next year. And the best thing you can do is give it a thick mulch of well-rotted manure or garden compost. Be careful not to cover the crowns themselves. This will keep in the moisture and feed the plants and maximize those shoots early in the New Year.

(www.rhs.org.uk)

Winter containers are likely to suffer from too much water, rather than too little, especially if they are standing on a hard surface. Lift them up and place them on blocks to make sure that they drain properly.

(www.rhs.org.uk)