News - Page 93

Test your soil now to get to know it and understand fully what it is capable of. You can do two types of test to find out about what’s under your feet: the texture test, and a simple pH test using a kit from the garden centre here in Lymington, which will tell you how acid or alkaline your soil is.

Wildlife-friendly gardeners may be encouraging birds to grow longer beaks according to scientists.

November is the season of cosy evenings gathered around the bonfire, toasting marshmallows and watching fireworks sizzle in the cold night air while warming your hands against the flames. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty to do in the garden though: so here’s our list of jobs to do this month.

Autumn is the perfect time to make some compost and turn all those spent plants you’re clearing out of the veg garden into lovely crumbly organic matter that’s the best soil improver there is.

Colours this late in the season are look-at-me bright: a last ditch flourish to remind you how fabulous a plant can look before you sink into the sepia tones of winter. Solidago is one of the flashiest of them all, a fireworks explosion of yellow that erupts from a hot-coloured exotic border like so many rockets.