Gardening expert Barry Wilson has highlighted eight tasks, which he says are particularly important for those who want a big harvest next year
It’s time to put your tomatoes to bed, Barry says(Image: YouTube/NoDigNorfolkGardener)
We’ve officially entered autumn now, and the prospect of venturing into the garden is becoming increasingly unappealing. However, according to gardening expert Barry Wilson, there are several tasks that gardeners need to tackle to ensure their plots are in prime condition for next spring’s growing season.
On his No Dig Norfolk Gardener YouTube channel, Barry states: “If you want vegetables that are bursting with harvest next year, then there are eight jobs that all smart gardeners do in the autumn.”
Clear Away Spent Plants
The initial task you must tackle, Barry recommends, is to remove any plants that have completed their cycle: “Always remove the plants after they’ve given up their final harvest,” he explains.
“It’s really important at this time of year in particular because it’s much wetter.
Damp conditions, he highlights, create ideal circumstances for slugs, and clearing away anything they could potentially consume will help control their population. “It also helps with any diseases that might come along because they will live on the plant material and drop into the soil,” Barry continues.
You should remove anything that could benefit slugs [stock image](Image: Getty)Prepare Beds for Winter
Any areas of soil that won’t be used for late autumn and winter crops should receive a generous layer of compost to ensure the community of beneficial organisms that maintain your garden’s health continues to flourish come spring: “Anywhere where you’re not going to be growing a green manure,” Barry explains, “it’s a really good idea to get your one or two inches of compost over your beds.
“This will give the soil life something to eat.”
Add Wood Chip to Paths
If you’ve got wood-chip pathways, they’ll naturally decompose throughout the season and now’s the perfect moment to give them a refresh. When the wet weather kicks in properly, you’ll be thankful for some solid, well-drained walkways.
Barry mentions that the old paths still serve a purpose: “What I often do is, I will just get my spade or a shovel and just scrape those up and add those to replace near our compost heap.
“I add those into our compost as a good source of brown material.
“By adding wood chip now, it’ll mean that your pathways are kept nice and clear and free of mud whenever you come out to your veg plot to harvest your vegetables.”
It’s a good ides to refresh wood-chip paths [stock image](Image: Getty)Practice Good Garden Hygiene
Just as you ought to clear away tired plants, you should also strip away any deceased material from perennials you intend to preserve: “It’s a really good idea to remove any leaves that are on your plants that are not doing the plant any more good,” Barry says.
“They’ll have gone a different colour, they could be yellow. The ones at the bottom of the plant, you can remove those. They’re not doing the plant any more good.
“But what they do do is create little bridges for slugs and snails to move between your plants and eat them before you do.”
A blast from the garden hose should get rid of whitefly [stock image](Image: Getty)Deal with Whitefly
Besides slugs and snails, there’s another nuisance you should attempt to eliminate before winter arrives. Whitefly can harm plants by draining their sap, resulting in yellowing foliage and restricted development.
Whitefly can also transmit illness and encourages sooty mould formation, making it wise to remove them if possible.
Thankfully, the remedy is straightforward: “When you do see them,” Barry says, “get your hose out, put it on its strongest jet, and just jet everything, because it’s the dry conditions that they actually like.”
He clarifies that due to our particularly arid year, these are precisely the circumstances where whitefly will flourish.
Keep Creating Compost
Numerous gardeners assume it’s impossible to produce compost during cold spells, as the procedure depends on warmth.
However, Barry clarifies that all the verdant foliage and exhausted plants gathered during your autumn clear-up contain abundant nitrogen – precisely what microorganisms require to transform your garden debris into stable, nutrient-dense humus.
Barry has listed some essential jobs for this month(Image: YouTube/NoDigNorfolkGardener)Decide on Tomatoes
During this period, gardeners cultivating tomato plants must make a difficult choice. Cultivating tomatoes this late in the season “starts to become a diminishing return,” Barry says.
“You just have to ask yourself the question, these few tomatoes that are on here – is it worth leaving them here for the next two or three weeks?
“Remember,” he adds, “this is October now. As the weeks are going by, we’re getting less and less light and warmth just to get a few extra tomatoes.”
It might be preferable, he suggests, to compost those plants and bring the remaining green tomatoes inside to ripen.
Rhubarb can be expensive to buy, Barry says, so you should divide plants if you can(Image: Getty)Split Perennial Plants
Once October arrives, Barry explains, it’s time to begin considering positioning your winter plants.
“One of the brilliant things that all clever gardeners do is that they look to where they can get free plants,” he adds. “At this time of the year, there are certain plants that are within a veg plot that you can divide and make into new plants.”
He highlights, as examples, rhubarb, chives and lemongrass. They naturally develop large clusters of growth that can easily be separated into two or three individual plants.
Rhubarb, for instance, can be quite a costly plant to purchase, making it an excellent idea to split larger clusters into numerous “free” new plants.
He adds: “The only thing I would say is that don’t do it to year old plants. In fact, I’d probably give them a couple of years before you do that.”
If you can complete all, or even most, of those tasks by the end of this month you should be well-positioned to make a strong start on your vegetable garden next spring.
Comments are closed.