Gardening thoughts for October ….

October is a beautiful month of autumnal colours and first frosts. Crisp, blue-sky days are the perfect time to tidy up and cut back in the garden.

There are quite a few gardening jobs that you can do in October, whether that is tidying up your garden, harvesting crops or planting something new.

Make sure you care for your lawn by raking or brushing leaves off the grass. Try collecting the leaves in a leaf bag, which will turn them into leaf mould – a useful and versatile soil conditioner.

You can also cut the grass for the final time of the year at the end of October. Make sure that the last cut is slightly higher than during the summer months – this will help to protect your lawn from winter frost damage.

Aerate your lawn with a garden fork to avoid waterlogging and compaction over winter, raking any thatch from the surface and repair dead patches.

To strengthen the grass prior to winter October is the ideal month to apply an autumn lawn food to help strengthen your lawn ready for the coming winter.  (Please send me a message if you would like me to apply an Autumn lawn feed to your lawn).

Continue to plant Spring flowering bulbs in beds and borders. For best effect plant bulbs in groups of 5, 7 or 9, tucked into gaps generated in the border as perennial plants are cut back for the winter.

Early flowering Spring bulbs, such as daffodils and crocus benefit from being planted now, whilst tulips can wait until November if you are busy. Plant them at a depth equal to twice the height of the bulb.

October is the time for clearing up – greenhouses, ponds, gutters, and water butts may all need cleaning out. Wooden garden furniture will need covering or storing for the winter and terracotta pots will need bringing inside, so that they do not freeze and crack. If you do not already have a compost heap or bin October is a wonderful time to start one, with all the leaves and cuttings to be disposed of!

Make sure that you trim your hedges so that they are crisp and tidy for the winter months. Sharp edges will look very impressive when coated in frost.

If you are still lucky to have green tomatoes on your plants, pick them and ripen them indoors by putting them in a paper bag with a banana or an apple. The fruit releases ethylene, which promotes ripening.

Preparation is key before frost, snow and high winds arrive. Check any high structures such as fences, sheds, and gates for signs of weakness and rot in October.

Harvest the last of your French and runner beans, then cut the plants back to ground level and leave the roots in the soil to release their stored nitrogen.

Plant onions, shallots and garlic, and sow hardy peas like ‘Avola’ or ‘Meteor.’ Peg netting down over the beds to protect the seeds from mice and the bulbs from birds. Garlic is best planted in autumn, plant it in your vegetable patch with the pointed ends up, just below the soil surface and spaced 10cm apart.

Fill pots with violas, cyclamens, and other winter bedding plants to give you colour through the winter months.

Cut tall shrub roses down by half to stop them from being damaged by high winds in winter, and prune rambling roses if not already done.

Cut back perennials as they fade but leave a few hollow flower stems and seedheads standing if you can provide food for birds and homes for overwintering insects.

Protect half-hardy plants with fleece or bring them into a frost-free greenhouse.

Lift dahlia tubers, begonia tubers and gladioli corms to store over the winter months. Remove any dead foliage before storing them.

This month is the ideal time to plant hedges and move and plant new trees and shrubs allowing them to establish over the winter months.

Clean out water butts and let the autumn rains refill them. Install a new water butt ready for next year.

Take snapshots with your camera or phone of where herbaceous plants are located before, they die back so you do not damage their roots during a winter dig.

Plant biennials now, such as sweet scented stocks, foxgloves, and honesty for strong statuesque plants to carry masses of flower early in the spring.

As always, I wish you happy gardening.

Rog

The above is written by Rog Leppard, owner of English Cottage Chic Gardening, a professional gardener and gardening writer based in East Wellow, Romsey, Hampshire.

Website: www.english-cottage-chic.co.uk