ON the whole we have experienced a mild autumn but things seems to have changed as we move into November.

Although we have not really experienced any heavy frost, it has nevertheless been very wet and windy. As such, over the weekend I removed the last of my hanging baskets which contained Begonia Illumination Apricot shades.

Although they were still full of colour, I’m afraid the qualities of the plants suffered badly in the strong winds leaving many scorched leaves. On taking the baskets down, I was still a little surprised to find how dry they were given the recent wet weather.

After removing the hanging baskets from their positions, I cut back the begonia growth to around 3-6cms of the base of the plants so the baskets were still full but much easier to handle. The hanging baskets, still full of composts and begonia corms, were then placed in my garage to dry out further.

In two to three weeks’ time I will tip out the compost and remove the begonia corms, clean them up and put them into frost-free storage. And come the spring I will start the corms into growth to form next year’s basket displays.

The rather wet and windy weather has limited my opportunity to get into the garden – even when the day was dry, the ground was still too wet to handle. So this has given me the chance to do a few of those wet-day jobs and one of those has been sorting my pots and trays.

This took me back to those days when I was an apprentice when on wet days I would sit for hours cleaning and washing pots. It was always a tedious job but I was often reminded by my then peers that gardening is about doing the rough with the smooth. This really meant that sometimes we have to do jobs which we do not always wish or want to do. It was drummed into me that washing and cleaning pots and trays may be a tedious task but it’s still a very important one. Remember, in those days we recycled a lot more and I was also accustomed to using clay pots and wooden trays rather than the plastic alternatives we have today. Some plastic pots and containers are so thin that you’re lucky if you get one season out of them.

So over the weekend, as I did all those years ago, I washed most of my pots and trays using a cloth and a brush in warm water with a splash of Jeyes fluid at the manufacturer’s recommended rate. Using a good disinfectant also ensures the pots and trays are sterilised to make them free of any diseases.

Once fully washed, they were left to drip dry and then stacked away in the shed. They are now nice and clean and ready for future use – even though I was left with quite a lot of dirty water!

I found a couple of packets of sweet pea seeds which I had not used in the last couple of years so the wet weekend also gave me an opportunity to make an early sowing of them. I let them soak overnight before sowing them in cell trays which I have placed on my kitchen windowsill.

Once the sweet peas have germinated I will move them to a sheltered part of the garden and protect them from heavy frosts using garden fleece.

Sowing sweet peas now will provide plants for planting out in the early spring which will allow them to have an earlier start and to provide earlier flowering next year.

In addition to sowing sweet peas at this time of year there are many vegetables which can also be sown now; these include garden peas, broad beans, cabbage, cauliflower, spring onions and, with a little protection, even certain types of lettuce can be sown.

Although not quite seeds, garlic, shallots and onion sets can be planted now. Most autumn-sown or planted vegetables will generally stand over the coldest winter months but they will continue to grow and establish and get off to a much quicker start as the weather warms up in the spring. This leads to earlier cropping although some form of protection – such as using cloches or garden fleece – will help with even earlier cropping.