Category: Seeds & Sowing

November is the month when the cottage garden looks finished and quietly isn’t. The borders are brown, the light is thin, and yet this is when the jobs you do decide how good next spring will be. Here are the November garden jobs I do every year in a UK cottage garden, in the order I tackle them, with the ones that matter most first.

1. Plant the last spring bulbs

Tulips go in best in November, once the soil has cooled, and daffodils and alliums can still go in if you have not got to them. Plant two to three times the bulb’s height deep. My guide to planting spring bulbs covers depth and spacing.

2. Make leaf mould

Rake leaves off the lawn and paths, stuff them into a wire cage or black bags with a few holes, and forget about them for two years. See how to make leaf mould.

3. Lift and store tender dahlias

After the first hard frost blackens the foliage, cut stems to a few inches, lift the tubers, dry them and store them somewhere cool and frost free. Full steps: lifting and storing dahlia tubers.

4. Take hardwood cuttings

November is perfect for roses, currants and willow. Push pencil-thick cuttings into a trench of gritty soil and leave them until next autumn. Read hardwood cuttings in autumn.

5. Protect pots from frost

Lift terracotta onto pot feet, empty and stack what you are not using, and wrap precious pots. My notes on terracotta pot care in winter explain why.

6. Clean and oil your tools

Wipe off soil, sharpen blades and rub a little oil over metal. Tools put away clean in November are ready in March. See looking after your garden tools.

7. Cut back and mulch

Cut back the herbaceous perennials that have collapsed, leave seed heads for the birds, and spread a thick layer of compost or leaf mould over bare soil.

8. Leave a corner for wildlife

A pile of logs and leaves is a hedgehog hotel. See making room for hedgehogs.

9. Order seeds and plan next year

Seed companies are quiet now and catalogues are full of ideas. Walk the garden with a notebook and write down what worked. A simple monthly structure is in my post on keeping a cottage garden journal.

10. Check the greenhouse

Clean the glass to let in every scrap of winter light, and see preparing your greenhouse for winter.

A short November plan

If time is short, do three things: plant the bulbs, lift the dahlias and tidy the tools. Everything else can wait for a dry afternoon in December. The garden will thank you in April.

Every year I tell myself the dahlias will be fine left in the ground, and every spring I remember the one winter they were not. A wet January turned a whole row of tubers to grey mush, and the border looked bald well into July. Since then I lift my favourites, and the ritual has become one of the quiet pleasures of late autumn.

Whether to lift at all. In a light, free-draining soil in the south of England, tubers under a thick mulch often survive. On heavy clay, or anywhere that sees hard frosts and sodden winters, lifting is the safer choice. If you have an expensive or sentimental variety, lift it regardless.

When to lift. Wait for the first frost to blacken the foliage; this signals the tubers to go dormant. Cut the stems down to about 15 cm, leave the clumps in the ground for another week, then ease them out with a fork, starting a good 30 cm from the stem so you do not spear the tubers.

Cleaning and drying. Brush off loose soil rather than washing the clumps; a little soil is harmless, a lot of water is not. Turn each clump upside down for a week or two in a frost-free shed so the hollow stems drain. Label every clump now. You will not remember which is which in March.

Storing. Pack the clumps in crates or cardboard boxes in barely damp coir, dry sand or shredded paper, stems up, with air gaps between them. Keep them somewhere cool, dark and frost-free, around 5 degrees. A garage, cellar or unheated spare room is ideal. Check them once a month: shrivelled tubers need a light misting, and any that are soft or mouldy should be cut out before the rot spreads.

Starting them again. In March, pot the clumps into compost in a frost-free greenhouse or on a bright windowsill. When shoots appear you can take cuttings, or divide the clumps, making sure each piece has a bit of crown and a good tuber. Plant out after the last frost, usually mid to late May.

Everything I use for this lives on my landing page: crates and trays, labels, a good pair of secateurs and a sturdy fork. Follow the link in my bio to find them.

A box of sleeping tubers on the shed shelf is a small promise of August. Lift them this month, and you will be cutting armfuls for the vase next summer.

My favourite cottage garden tools and supplies are collected on my English Cottage Living landing page, from seeds and sowing supplies to greenhouse and tool shed essentials and planters and pots.

There is a particular kind of quiet in the garden in October. The borders are thinning, the last dahlias are hanging on, and most people are putting their trowels away for the year. But this is exactly the moment I like to scatter a few packets of seed, because the flowers I sow now are the ones that open first next summer, often weeks before anything sown in spring.

Autumn sowing feels a little like writing a letter to your future self. It takes an afternoon, costs very little, and in May you will open the door to a froth of blue, white and orange that you had almost forgotten about.

Why sow hardy annuals in autumn?

Hardy annuals are flowers that complete their life in a single year but can cope with frost. Sow them in September or October and they germinate while the soil is still warm, sit through winter as small, sturdy rosettes, and then race away the moment the days lengthen.

• Earlier flowers: autumn-sown plants usually bloom several weeks ahead of spring sowings.
• Stronger plants: roots establish over winter, so plants are bushier and need less watering in a dry spring.
• A gentler spring: one less job in the busy weeks of March and April.
• Some seeds actually prefer it: larkspur and poppies germinate better after a spell of cold.

Eight cottage garden flowers to sow now

1. Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus)

That clear, old-fashioned blue is the heart of any cottage border. Cornflowers are almost foolproof sown direct, and autumn-sown plants grow tall enough to cut for little jugs on the kitchen table. I like Cornflower ‘Blue Boy’ seeds for the truest blue.

2. Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena)

Soft blue flowers in a haze of feathery foliage, followed by striped seed pods that are lovely dried. Sow once and nigella will politely self-seed for years. The Mr Fothergill’s nigella mix gives you both soft blue and white.

3. Pot marigold (Calendula officinalis)

Cheerful orange and apricot daisies that bees adore. Calendula is one of the toughest annuals you can grow and often flowers right through a mild winter. Mr Fothergill’s Calendula ‘Art Shades’ has the loveliest apricot and cream tones.

4. Larkspur (Consolida ajacis)

The annual cousin of the delphinium, with tall spires in blue, pink and white. Larkspur dislikes being transplanted and germinates best after cold, so autumn is its ideal moment. Sow it exactly where you want it to flower. Mr Fothergill’s Larkspur Giant Imperial Mixed is a classic choice for cutting.

5. Bishop’s flower (Ammi majus)

Lacy white umbels that soften every colour around them, like cow parsley with better manners. Autumn-sown ammi can reach well over a metre, so give it a few twiggy supports in spring. Try Mr Fothergill’s RHS Ammi majus.

6. White lace flower (Orlaya grandiflora)

Shorter and neater than ammi, with flat white flowers edged in larger petals. It is one of the longest-flowering annuals I know and looks beautiful at the front of a border. Mr Fothergill’s RHS Orlaya grandiflora holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit.

7. Field poppy (Papaver rhoeas)

Scatter poppy seed over bare soil now and let winter do the rest. The papery flowers last only a day, but the seed heads that follow are just as pretty. For a true meadow look, common field poppy seeds (Papaver rhoeas) are hard to beat.

8. Sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus)

Sweet peas are the classic autumn sowing, but they are best started under cover rather than direct. Sow in October or early November into deep pots, keep them somewhere cool and bright through winter, and plant out in April. Thompson & Morgan sweet pea seeds are a reliable place to start.

If you would rather not choose, a mixed packet does the work for you: the Mr Fothergill’s RHS Cottage Garden seed mix or the Pronto Wildflowers Cottage Garden mix are both easy ways to fill a bare patch with colour.

Direct sowing or under cover?

Direct sowing suits cornflowers, nigella, larkspur, poppies and calendula, especially on free-draining soil. It is the simplest method and the most cottage-like, because plants drift naturally where they fall.

Sowing under cover is the safer choice on heavy clay, in very wet or cold gardens, or where slugs are a problem. Small plants in modules or pots can sit out the worst of winter in a cold frame or mini greenhouse and go into the border in early spring. A Christow 3-tier mini greenhouse is ideal for a few trays on a patio, and the Palram Canopia lean-to grow house works well against a sunny wall if you want a little more room.

How to sow hardy annuals in autumn, step by step

1. Choose your moment. Mid-September to mid-October is ideal in most of the UK. The soil should still feel warm to the touch.
2. Prepare the bed. Clear weeds, rake the surface to a fine, crumbly tilth and avoid adding rich compost, as most annuals flower better on leaner soil.
3. Sow thinly. Scatter seed in loose drifts or short rows, then cover lightly with sieved soil. Larger seeds such as calendula need about 1cm of cover; tiny poppy seed barely any.
4. Water gently. A can with a fine rose avoids washing seed away. The HAWS Deluxe 5L watering can gives a soft, even shower that is perfect for seedbeds.
5. Label everything. By March you will not remember what went where, and seedlings look surprisingly alike.
6. Thin in spring, not autumn. Leave seedlings slightly crowded over winter as insurance against losses, then thin to 15–20cm apart in March.

A note on sweet peas and deep pots

Sweet peas grow long roots very quickly, so shallow trays leave them cramped. Deep, narrow pots such as Weston Mill Long Tom terracotta pots give the roots room to run, and terracotta breathes, so the compost is less likely to stay soggy through winter. Sow two or three seeds per pot, pinch out the tips once plants have three or four pairs of leaves, and keep them cool: a cold frame or unheated greenhouse is perfect, a warm windowsill is not.

Looking after autumn sowings through winter

• Watch for slugs on mild, damp evenings, when young seedlings are most vulnerable.
• Keep pots on the dry side. Cold and wet together is what kills overwintering seedlings, not frost alone.
• Ventilate cold frames and mini greenhouses on bright days to stop mould.
• Cover in a hard freeze with a sheet of horticultural fleece if temperatures drop well below zero.

Too late this year? Not quite

If October slips away from you, sweet peas can still be sown under cover into November, and poppies and larkspur can be scattered over bare soil in late winter. Everything else can wait for a spring sowing in March or April. It will simply flower a little later.

For more ideas on planning the borders these flowers will fill, The Modern Cottage Garden by Greg Loades is a lovely book to read by the fire while your seeds sit quietly under the soil.

So find an hour this week, a rake and a handful of seed packets. Next May, you will be very glad you did.

You will find all of my favourite seeds, pots and greenhouses in one place on the English Cottage Living shop page.

There’s a particular kind of quiet satisfaction in sowing something in September while everyone else is winding the garden down for the year. It feels a little like keeping a secret. But it’s one of the oldest tricks in the cottage gardener’s book: sow a batch of sweet peas now, and by next June you’ll have taller, sturdier plants covered in flowers weeks before anyone who waited for spring.

Why Autumn Works Better Than Spring

Sweet peas have long roots and don’t love being rushed. A seed sown in September has the whole of autumn to put down a proper root system while the top growth stays modest — by the time winter arrives, you’ve got a small, tough plant rather than a soft, leggy one. Come spring, that root system means the plant can throw its energy straight into growth and flower, instead of starting from scratch. Spring-sown sweet peas are still lovely, but they’re always chasing the ones that went in during autumn.

How to Do It

Sow two or three seeds to a deep pot — a root trainer or a toilet-roll tube works nicely, since sweet peas resent having their roots disturbed at transplanting. A gritty, well-drained compost matters more than warmth here; what kills autumn-sown sweet peas isn’t cold, it’s wet feet. Water them in, then find them a spot that’s cold but sheltered from the worst of the winter rain — a cold frame or an unheated greenhouse is ideal. A bright windowsill indoors will make them soft and leggy, so resist the urge to mother them too much.

The Pinch That Makes All the Difference

Once your seedlings have three or four pairs of leaves, pinch out the growing tip. It feels counterintuitive to cut back something you’ve nursed since September, but this is the step most people skip — and the one that makes the biggest difference. Pinching forces the plant to branch from lower down, giving you several strong flowering stems instead of one long, thin one.

Protecting Them Through Winter

In a cold frame, prop the lid open on all but the harshest days — good airflow matters more than warmth for preventing the grey mould that undoes so many autumn sowings. If you’re gardening somewhere properly cold, a layer of horticultural fleece on the coldest nights is worth more than moving them indoors. By February, you’ll notice new growth picking up pace, and that’s your cue to start hardening them off for planting out once the ground is workable.

Choosing Your Seed

Not every sweet pea variety takes equally well to an autumn start — the older, more strongly scented varieties tend to be the most forgiving, which suits a cottage border nicely anyway, since scent is half the point of growing them at all. If you haven’t settled on a variety, it’s worth choosing one bred for fragrance over frilliness; a sweet pea that doesn’t smell of anything rather misses the point.

By the time next June’s roses are opening, your autumn-sown sweet peas will already be scrambling up their supports and filling a jug on the kitchen table — while the spring-sown batch is still finding its feet. It’s a small piece of patience in September that pays back in armfuls of flowers all summer.

There’s a particular kind of quiet satisfaction in planting something in September, weeks before you’ll see a single sign of it above ground. While the rest of the garden is winding down for the year, a tray of daffodil and allium bulbs tucked into the soil now is really a promise to your April self — and it’s one of the easiest promises a cottage gardener can keep.

Why September Beats Spring for Daffodils and Alliums

Daffodils and alliums both spend the winter quietly building the root system that decides how well they’ll flower. Plant in September or October and you’re giving that root system a full autumn of still-warm soil to get established before the ground turns cold — by the time spring arrives, the bulb already has everything in place and can put all its energy straight into the flower. Wait until spring to plant, and you’re asking the bulb to build roots and produce a flower stem at the same time, which is why spring-planted bulbs so often come up thin, late, or not at all. Alliums in particular are unforgiving about this — a late-planted allium bulb will often sulk for an entire year rather than flower.

The One Rule That Covers Almost Any Bulb

Planting depth causes more hesitation than anything else, but there’s a rule that covers nearly every bulb you’ll plant in a cottage border: plant it at a depth roughly two to three times the bulb’s own height, measured from the base of the bulb. A daffodil bulb that stands 5cm tall wants roughly 10–15cm of soil above its base; a small crocus bulb needs only a few centimetres. Sitting the bulb on a layer of grit at the bottom of the hole helps drainage, and pointy end up is the only detail worth double-checking — though if you do get one upside down, most bulbs are clever enough to find their way to the surface regardless.

The “Bulb Lasagne” Trick for Months of Pot Colour

If you only have pots and containers, this is the trick worth knowing. Layer your bulbs in a single large pot by flowering time and depth, like courses in a dish: large, latest-flowering bulbs (daffodils, tulips) go in first on a base of compost, covered with more compost; then mid-season bulbs (hyacinths) on top of that layer; then the earliest, smallest bulbs (crocus, snowdrops) just a few centimetres under the surface. Each layer pushes up through the one above it in sequence as the compost settles, so instead of one pot with one week of colour, you get a succession that starts in late winter and keeps going into mid-spring — all from a single container by the front door.

Water the pot in well after planting and then more or less leave it alone until shoots appear — the biggest risk to a bulb lasagne isn’t cold, it’s compost that’s kept too wet over winter. A pot with drainage holes and a handful of grit mixed through the compost will see you right.

September is a strange month to be gardening for a display you won’t see for six months, but that’s rather the point of bulbs — they ask for five minutes of effort now and reward you properly for it later, right when the garden most needs the cheering up.