NOVEMBER is the time to enjoy evergreen plants as the glory of autumn leaves fades and the garden begins to look flat.

There are so many plants to choose from to keep the garden interesting at this quiet time, from the biggest conifers to the smallest alpines.

The freshness of spring and the fertile blowsy summer has been replaced by a more subtle air, when green, gold and cream are the order of the day, with the bonus of occasional blooms and dots of berries that add welcome colour.

Evergreen hedges can give a good backdrop to a winter garden. We have a length along part of the boundary with a neighbour that has been encouraged to thicken out over the past few years.

Regular trimming and topping has produced a decent hedge with shiny dark holly, privet and large-leafed laurel blending together to give a pleasing block of colour. Holly, privet, laurel – not the most exciting of plants but in the right place they are hard to beat.

Euphorbias are also hard to beat and as garden workhorses they perform magnificently. Some will die back in the autumn, but many are evergreen and will cope with the worst the weather can throw at them.

The stems and leaves droop under a load of snow, but once a thaw sets in they soon perk up. Frost doesn’t seem to be a concern either and there is nothing prettier than spikily frosted euphorbia leaves.

They will gradually warm in the winter sun and become speckled with the tiniest beads of moisture catching the cold light.


• In the veg patch

OUR strawberry patch is a tangled mess, having been left to its own devices since the end of the fruit harvest.

It is a relatively new area filled with small plants a couple of summers ago. These were grown from runners sent out by older plants in another part of the garden and moved to their new bed in the spring of 2012. We had a bit of fruit from the plants last summer, but this year they have been wonderful.

Now is the time to get the area tidied up. Since the plants are still young, they will remain productive for at least two more years. We don’t need to keep any of the runners, so these will be cut from the parent plants and put on to the compost heap.

This will encourage the remaining plants to put their energy into growing bigger and providing an even better crop next year.

Then the usual weeding and a thick mulch of garden compost or well-rotted manure will keep the area tidy for winter and give the plants a good start in the New Year when they begin to grow once again.

Once strawberry crops begin to decline, it suggests the plants are old and need to be replaced. This is simply done by pegging down the runners sent out by parent plants; this can still be done now if the ground isn’t frosted, strawberries are tough.

Look for the strongest looking runners carrying the healthiest babies and use wire hooks pushed into the soil on either side of the plantlets.

This will keep them still and allow new roots to get into the earth. An alternative is to fix the runners into compost-filled plant pots.

Keep the runners attached to the parent plants until next spring to give the new plants time to grow independently. They can then be cut away and put into their new bed.


• Weekend catch-up

ANOTHER fruit crop needs to be tidied up. Blackberries have done their thing for this year, so all the fruited stems can be cut off the plant.

These vigorous plants need to be kept in check, especially where space is short, as they will quickly take over.

Keep them under control by cutting old stems back to the ground. New stems will be evident now; they are the long whippy growths with flexible stems that haven’t yet become woody. Tie these onto horizontal wires or against a fence or wall to stop them getting damaged and also catching onto clothes or skin as you walk by.

Blackberries can quickly colonise an area, thanks to their interesting way of propagating themselves. Unlike other plants, blackberry shoots do not grow up towards the light, instead they arch down to the soil at any opportunity.

This is because they carry a rooting hormone at the tip of each stem and once it hits the ground it will very quickly begin to develop a root system. The whole cycle begins again once the new plant develops.


Gardening TV and radio

Sunday

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

8.30am, BBC2, Alan Titchmarsh’s Garden Secrets. Alan visits Biddulph Grange in Staffordshire.

9am, BBC Radio York, Julia Lewis.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

9.30am, BBC2, Gardeners’ World. Carol Klein gets amongst berry laden hedgerows. (Repeated from Friday).

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Chairman Eric Robson and his team of gardening experts Bob Flowerdew, Pippa Greenwood and Christine Walkden are at the Rochdale Pioneers Museum, the birthplace of the modern co-operative movement. (Repeated from Friday).

Friday

3pm, R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Panellists Chris Beardshaw, Bob Flowerdew and Anne Swithinbank answer questions from gardeners in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. The chairman is Peter Gibbs.