Garden Maintenance: OCTOBER
Autumn is a busy gardening season; winter and spring preparation starts now!
Top gardening jobs for October
1. Divide herbaceous perennials.
2. Net ponds to stop leaves falling
in.
3. Give evergreen hedges a trim for the winter.
4. Take advantage
of any dry days to paint fences, sheds etc with a preservative.
5. Clean
patios and paths now to stop them becoming slippery in the Winter- a
pressure wash and/or a chemical cleaner will do.
6. Replace any broken
glass in the greenhouse and check for lost glazing clips or worn putty.
7. Clean your greenhouse before bringing in any tender plants for the
winter. You will need a hose, a safe cleaning product (such as Citrox), and
a scourer suitable for glass.
8. Check sheds for leaky roofs and fix them
before the rainy season gets started!
9. Make/buy/repair compost bins so
that they can be used for fallen leaves.
Top tip: Want some spring colour in your garden? Now is the time to plant spring flowering plants.
Lawn Care
Make your lawn a feature rather than a space filler!
- You might want
to raise the cutting height. This will help stop your lawn getting muddy
when the wet weather arrives.
- A little work now will help your lawn
survive the winter and improve its condition for next year:
1. Scarify
your lawn - this means raking up dead grass (or thatch) that builds up in
your lawn to make space for new growth.
2. Aerate your lawn - this
involves making lots of small holes. Light and air get into the holes
encouraging the grass to grow and thicken up.
3. Harden up your lawn with
a lawn feed high in potassium as this builds healthy roots.
- Top
dressings of good quality soil or sand will improve the nutrients in the
soil under your lawn and improve drainage. Work it in with a brush. Read
suppliers instructions for application rates. A little each year will
gradually improve your lawn. Doing this will help prevent water-logging,
soil compaction and deter moss and weeds from growing.
- This month is
your last chance to use a lawn weed killer. Many weed killers contain a
hormone that stops the weed feeding - thus starving it. For this to be
effective the weeds need to be in active growth.
Trees, Shrubs and Hedges
Trees and shrubs often give good value for money as they have colourful
ornamental leaves and blossom but require little maintenance.
- Make
semi-ripe cuttings of evergreen shrubs such as Ceanothus and Viburnum and
hardwood cuttings of roses.
- Ensure that early-flowering shrubs, such as
Camellia and Rhododendron, are well watered when the weather is dry as this
will encourage healthy blooms in the spring.
- Use recycled or stored
rainwater wherever possible. As the weather becomes cooler and damper, the
soil will better absorb and hold any extra water you give it (so you won't
need to water it so often).
- Climbing roses can be pruned once they have
finished flowering; sideshoots can be cut back to a couple of buds. As usual
cut out any dead or weak branches.
- Late-summer flowering shrubs such as
Helianthemum (rock rose) can be pruned this month. As a general rule you can
prune plants after they have flowered provided there is no frost expected.
Flowers
Have you ever seen a beautiful garden in full bloom and wished yours was
as colourful? Plan now for colour next spring...
- Plant daffodils by
mid-September and shop around to see what other bulbs are available for
planting now for a display in spring.
- This is a good time of year to
plant new perennials as there is still time for them to establish before the
really cold weather starts.
- Bring any young tender perennials such as
Fuchsia, Gazania, Lantana and Abutilon into the greenhouse to avoid frost
damage.
- Keep deadheading, watering and feeding hanging baskets and they
will keep going until mid-autumn.
- Deadheading plants like Dahlias,
Delphinium and Penstemon will prolong your display.
- Now is a good time
to take cuttings of tender perennials as these often do better next year
than the old plant you took the cutting from.
- Divide overgrown or tired
looking clumps of alpines and herbaceous perennials such as crocosmias. This
will encourage new growth next year and improve their overall appearance.
