We have some fantastic top tips to keep your garden looking delightful!
Do not put down that gardening equipment just yet!
Even though glorious summer days are now firmly behind us, there are still plenty of jobs to be done outside to produce wonderful displays both now, and in preparation for the seasons ahead.
From giving the lawn a bit of attention, to putting delightful hanging basket displays together, simply read on for a splash of October gardening inspiration.
Leaves, Leaves, Leaves!
It only takes a glance at the trees to know the seasons are changing.
Very soon luscious green will be a thing of the past as yellow and red shades take over leaves, before falling.
Make sure to remove any fallen leaves from around your plants, but place the discarded leaves to one side in bags or liners, as they will become very handy mulch by next year.
Get Your Hands Dirty Now
With winter only just around the corner, now is the prime time to get preparations underway for festive displays.
Starting off with winter baskets and pots, put together a beautiful design that will add colour to those long, dark days – think about pansies, cyclamen, polyanthus and violas, all of which are reliable varieties ready to impress, and don’t need much attention!
Forget Spring Cleaning, It’s Time For Some Autumn Arranging!
Autumn represents an excellent time to prune most deciduous trees.
This is now a ‘quiet’ period for trees, as leaves have been lost, offering you ample time to remove dead, diseased or dying branches.
Your roses will also need some attention now, so remove any fallen leaves from the bases, in order to prevent fungal disease spores and lower the risk of blackspot.
To protect newly planted evergreens from wind scorch, surround them with a temporary windbreak, simply made with tree stakes and strong netting.
Pay Attention to Your Kitchen Beauties
Most of this year’s harvesting should already have been completed.
But, if you still have potatoes left in the ground, now is really the last chance to pull them, before they start to rot and become completely unusable.
Elsewhere in the kitchen garden, inspect stored fruit or vegetables, removing any soft or visibly mouldy pieces to prevent rot from spreading.
Split clumps of rhubarb by lifting with a spade and dividing the pieces, ensuring each retains at least one healthy bud. Then plant roughly 1m apart with the bud just peering above the soil level.
With Christmas only just on the horizon, you do not want to risk anything happening to the all-important sprouts, so remove yellowing leaves to improve air circulation.
Tidy your blackberries by cutting back any stems that carried fruits this year and finish by tying in any new canes.
To control any peach leaf curl disease on planted apricots, spray the trees with a copper-based fungicide.
Lawn Care is Always Important
Replace heavily worn areas of lawn by purchasing rolls of turf and spending a bit of time laying it.
Prepare the ground first after lifting the old turf by digging and levelling with a rake, removing any stones as you go. Firm up the ground with the back of a rake, then unroll the fresh turf on top ensuring the edges touch.
Tap the lapping edges once with the rake so it binds with the soil beneath and creates a seamless natural carpet.
Hardwood Cuttings
Now is the time to grow even more plants using existing species.
To take cuttings from hardwood species, such as dogwoods, willows or blackcurrants, make a 15cm long slanted cut above the bud, or a straight cut below.
This can then be planted in the ground, at half the piece’s length (7.5cm), or into pots using a grit-based compost.
What beauties are you growing this month? Show off by sending a picture here!
