After an incredibly wet, windy and mild autumn in many parts of the UK, November beckons with a hope of more settled conditions. Dig It’s Peter Brown and Chris Day bring us up to date with the latest gardening news, a couple of events celebrating apples, and the joy of garden visiting, as well as plenty of gardening tasks to be getting on with, plus the return of a very special guest to Dig It, houseplant aficionado Jane Perrone and her latest gardening project – Houseplant Gardener in a Box.

Plants mentions: Apple Granny Smith, Comfrey, Sweet Chestnut, Sycamore, Loofah, Tulips, Winter pansies, Wallflower ‘Sugar Rush’, Broad beans, Onions, Shallots and Garlic. Narcissus ‘Paper White’ and bare-root raspberry canes.

Product mentions: Empathy RootGrow, Melcourt SylvaGrow Multi-Purpose Compost, Levington Organic Blend Topsoil, wheatgerm fish food, greenhouse bubble insulation, horticultural fleece, garden furniture covers, grease bands for fruit trees, Gro-Sure Repair Kits, Autumn lawn food and pot feet.

What’s on

27th October – 28th January 2024 The Museum of Cider in Hereford is hosting an exhibition called A Variety of Cultures. The event explores how cultures across the globe have taken the apple and made it their own.

Thursday 23rd November, Annual Lecture – What Garden Visiting Does for Us with Robin Lane Fox. Venue the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR, or watch it live-streamed online at 7pm.

This month’s Dig It top 5

Soft fruits 1. Strawberry ‘Red Gauntlet’ 2. Strawberry ‘Cambridge Favourite’ 3. Blueberry ‘Sunshine Blue’ 4. Strawberry ‘Hapil’ 5. Blackcurrant ‘Big Ben.’

News

The Sycamore Gap tree in Northumberland felling incident.

Wrexham’s 484-year-old Sweet Chestnut Tree has been voted Tree of the Year 2023.

The UK’s largest collection of comfreys has been made a National Collection by the conservation charity Plant Heritage.

Eight Guinness World Records achieved at Great Autumn Malvern Show.

A 10,000 collection of pumpkins and squashes set a new Guiness World Record at Sunnyfields Farm in Southampton.

Amateur Gardening magazine saved from cancellation.

The results of this year’s Big Butterfly Count are in, and more than 1.5 million butterflies and daytime months were recorded.

Losses of specimen yew trees at King Charles’s Sandringham residence as staff remove 14 dead trees in a new Topiary Garden.

Gardeners’ World has paid tribute to Monty Don's golden retriever, Nellie, following her sad passing.

Therapy garden at King’s Heath, Birmingham is awarded thousands of Lottery money for major revamp.

Our thanks to Chiltern Music Therapy for supplying the music.

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