In October great operations are carried out in herbaceous borders. New plants come in from nurserymen or friends; old ones are cut down, fed, and in some cases divided; seedlings are put in groups where they are to flower. These things are done all through the autumn, according to convenience. In a mild district you may go on till Christmas planting out and reorganizing your borders. In a cold one get it done at the end of summer, before the frosts come. Any bulbs you have not planted in September should go into the ground now.
November.
There is still plenty to do in the garden on a fine day. In a wild garden or shrubbery some people leave all the dead leaves lying. We think that this is advisable in a big country garden, but not in a small, compact town one, that should look trim and well-tended. Your flower border you should keep as neat as your bedroom. All weeds, dead leaves, and rubbish must be removed now, and if you have plants that need protection you will give them tidy heaps of manure, ashes, or dead leaves. See that the labels and sticks marking plants and bulbs are firmly in the ground. Cut down herbaceous plants that have done flowering. Throw away the annuals that have become shabby. Lift your Dahlias on a dry day, cut their stems to within three inches of the crown of the roots, and put them, stem downwards, in an airy place to dry. During the winter they must be kept from frost, but not altogether from air. They are often stored in a shed, or on the floor of a cool greenhouse.
Remember that this is the chief month in the year for planting Roses, and do it at the beginning rather than the end.
Any part of your garden that is empty may be dug over and manured now. The surface should then be left in a rough state, so that the winter frosts can work the soil well, and prepare it to receive seeds and young plants in the spring.
December.
November and December are two most important months in the gardening year. All the digging and the alterations you have planned during the summer are taken in hand now. In a cold climate you would be careful to finish your planting early in November, but in the South and West of England you might still be busy with a new rockery or a new flower border. Even in the South you must now expect winter weather, and should complete your preparations for protecting delicate plants. One of the enchanting discoveries you make when you become a gardener is that there is no ‘dead’ season in these islands. In the milder corners you may have Roses, Violets, and Primroses all through the winter, while the early spring bulbs push their spikes through the soil before you have gathered your last Chrysanthemum. But even in a cold climate, when all your plants seem to be asleep beneath the snow, you can be busy indoors for your garden. It is a good plan to make plenty of large wooden labels, as the little ones you buy are easily lost. If you have the use of a shed or an attic, you may wish to repaint your watering-can and wheelbarrow; and out of doors you can sort all your stakes, and point those used for Sweet-peas with a sharp, strong knife. Besides, you will probably have some bulbs and foliage plants indoors that require your care.
If you have any Christmas Roses (Hellebores) in your garden, it is well worth while to make a roof over them with strong stakes and sacking. Then the air can get in at the sides, but the roof prevents the rough winter rains from splashing their faces with soil. When Christmas is over you have January, the worst of the winter months, before you, and after that you will say to yourself every day that ‘spring is coming.’ Even during a cold February the lengthening afternoon lights say this to you a little clearer every week, and during the spell of mild weather that nearly every February brings you will find many other promises of spring in your garden. So the year goes round for us, a tangled tale of work and pleasure, success and failure, hope and disappointment. The great gardener must be wise and humble, or he would not be great; so he knows to the end of his days that he has much to learn. The child who first plants his little plot should also teach himself this lesson. Then, if he observes his plants attentively and patiently, he will in the course of years become a gardener.
‘Who loves a garden
Still his Eden keeps,
Perennial pleasures plants,
And wholesome harvests reaps.’