AUTUMN LEAVES: Fallen leaves look beautiful but slugs and snails like to hide beneath them (Image: Alamy/PA)
The weather continues to be predictably unpredictable. Last week, we hunkered down when blustery wet weather heralded the end of summer, but then the skies cleared and the sun reappeared.
Is it still sunny enough to ripen green tomatoes? Well, it was until it started raining again. Now that autumn is officially here, it’s time to sort out the garden and prepare for the months ahead.
While it’s a bit blowy for raking leaves, pruning and tidying can be very satisfying on a mellow September afternoon. So check the forecast, grab your tools and get a head start on these October gardening tasks.
MORE FOR GARDENERSRefresh containers
Ditch your summer bedding and replace it with winter and spring displays of violas, heathers, winter-flowering cyclamen and miniature conifers. Mix in a few shrubs such as small-leaved hebes and Skimmia japonica and add some spring-flowering bulbs underneath, such as narcissi and grape hyacinth.
If your pots are small, go for dwarf varieties of daffodils to bring balance to the container. If you’re not going to bother with winter containers, give them a good wash and store them in a cool, dry, frost-free place until you need them.
Tidy up beds and borders
You might want a break from weeding, but doing it now will save a lot of time next year and shouldn’t take too long with a good hoe. Cut back dead flower stems and gather seeds for next year, but leave some seedheads for the birds.
Consider leaving your borders a little less manicured than usual to provide wildlife with shelter. If you have some spare ground, consider planting bare root woody plants including roses, which are cheaper than container-grown shrubs and will have time to settle in during their winter dormant period.
If you have old, overgrown clumps of perennials such as hostas, helenium and Michaelmas daisies, now is a good time to divide them. Lift the whole clump and split it with a spade or even a sharp knife, then replant the divisions, adding plenty of organic matter to the soil, to give them more room to grow.
Prune stalwart shrubs
Tough shrubs such as buddleia and lavatera can be pruned to stop them being damaged by wind-rock. You can cut them back by about half their height to make them look neater. Climbing roses can also be pruned now before being tied in so the autumn winds don’t break the stems.
Rake leaves
If you or your neighbours have trees, there are likely to be fallen leaves on your lawn and in your borders. If they cover your grass, they stop light getting to the lawn and can create bare patches and disease.
Diseased leaves can be problematic to the plant life they land on, while fallen leaves (although picturesque) can encourage slugs and snails, which shelter underneath them. But don’t worry too much about your borders as earthworms will drag them underground, where they will decompose and enrich your soil.
Don’t throw the raked leaves away as they can be added to the compost heap. Otherwise, pack them into big bin liners, making holes for ventilation, and move them to a hidden spot in the garden for about 12 months.
By this time they will have become a crumbly black organic matter, ideal for using as a top dressing for plants. Alternatively, construct a leaf-mould bin out of chicken wire secured with four strong posts.
Move tender plants
Half-hardy and tender plants such as pelargoniums, some salvias and fuchsias, will need to be moved into a frost-free greenhouse or a shed next month. In preparation, cut them back to around half their height. If they are in a border, dig them up and pot them before putting them inside.
Plants which are difficult to move, such as bananas or tree ferns, may benefit from being wrapped in horticultural fleece to protect them from the worst of the elements. The RHS advises keeping the previous seasons’ growth on more tender plants until spring, for example penstemon, to help provide frost protection.
Some dahlias need lifting, after being blackened by the first frost of winter, and storing in a dry place in wooden trays until they’ve dried out, and then in peat-free compost. But many people take their chances and leave dahlias in the ground, covered with a thick mulch in the hope they’ll come back – and many do.
Deal with the veg patch
You’ll be able to enjoy leeks, carrots, main crop potatoes, autumn cauliflowers and many other veg in October, so continue to harvest your produce. However, keep an eye on the weather as some will spoil if you have a very wet autumn or an early cold snap.
Beans: Your French and runner beans will just about be done, but if you cut them all back, leave the roots where they are, as they will give the earth some nitrogen-fixing fertiliser, which will help boost your soil.Spuds: Leave potatoes out in the sun to dry out for a few hours, then ideally store them in hessian or thick paper sacks in storage in the dark to stop them sprouting.Root crops: Leave carrots and parsnips in the ground until you need them, but if it’s very wet they may start to rot – in that case, dig them up and store them.Tender leaves: If you’ve sown summer crops late, such as lettuce and pak choi, cover them with horticultural fleece to keep them growing a bit longer.
Pick up fallen fruit and clear spent plants, like tomatoes, aubergines and courgettes, and put them on the compost heap. Dig over the veg patch once it is clear and add some compost or well-rotted manure.
Towards the end of the month start planting garlic and autumn onion sets. It’s also a good time to create new strawberry beds, pick apples and pears for storing and to prune blackberry bushes.
Useful items 🍂
Garden rake: The Unibos Garden Rake is down to £8.95 on Amazon. Telescopic handle with 15 springy long tines. Ideal for raking leaves and scarifying the lawn.
Fleece: A 10m roll of Abimars Garden Fleece costs £15.99 on Amazon. Made of 30gsm non-woven polypropylene fabric and 2m wide, although other sizes are available.
Spring bulbs: The Bumper Bulb Collection of 90 bulbs costs £24.99 at Yimbly. Suitable for beds or containers, it includes allium, crocus, tulips, daffodils and anenome.
GARDENS AND WILDLIFE
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