The wind is picking up and leaves are falling off the trees quicker than you’re able to scoop them up, but at least like spring the changes in colour you’ll experience is beautiful.
Sadly, you won’t get to enjoy the occasional hot days September usually offers. Gardening in October is still of the utmost importance as there are a few crucial things you need to do before winter blows in, so let’s take a closer look at exactly what they are.
Gardening calendar: Gardening in October
Flowers
1 – Cutting Back Perennials: Now is the right time to start cutting back the perennials that have slowly died down over the last couple of years to keep them looking gorgeous.
2 – Your Herbaceous Perennials: You can also begin to divide up your herbaceous perennials in order to take full advantage of them for the coming year, because the soil will now be moister than it was in summer.
3 – Move Plants Inside: If you have any tender plants unable to handle the harsh British winter, including water plants, now would be a good time to move them into your greenhouse or conservatory.
4 – Pruning Climbing Roses: If you have climbing roses now is the time to start pruning them while they’re dormant. The end result will be lots of late-season flowers.
5 – Hanging Basket Maintenance: If the flowers in your hanging basket are over the hill you can bring them back to life with winter heathers and trailing ivies, plus add spring-flowering bulbs.
Fruits And Vegetables
1 – Harvest Fruits And Nuts: It’s now time to start harvesting your apples, grapes, pears, and nuts. When sorting through them throw away any showing signs of disease.
2 – Divide Rhubarb Plants: Start to divide all of your old rhubarb plants into 3 or 4 separate crowns, so you’ll end up with a lot more plants in the future.
3 – Plant Spring Cabbages: If you start planting out your spring cabbages now it will give them enough time to turn into tasty treats for next year.
4 – Start Sowing Herbs: You should be able to start sowing herbs like parsley, chives, and basil now. They’ll grow easily on your windowsill throughout the winter.
5 – Onions And Garlic: Try planting onions and garlic now and they should be ready in time for next summer. Winter lettuces and broad beans are good if you want something sooner.
Trees, Shrubs, And Lawns
1 – Mowing Your Lawn: It’s finally time to get your lawnmower out on the first dry day you’re available to work in your garden, because it might be a while until you get another chance.
2 – Renovate Your Lawn: While gardening in October, you can also take the chance to renovate your lawn if you have patches where the grass is gone or has nearly disappeared.
3 – Trim Your Hedges: Trim all your hedges to keep them tidy during the winter, and you can also do the same thing with tree branches so the wind won’t affect them.
4 – Check On New Trees: If you’re growing new trees you’ll need to check their ties and stakes, because if you don’t they’ll easily get damaged by the strong winter gales.
5 – Destroy Affected Leaves: When you’re raking up the leaves from your lawn, it’s important to ensure any diseased ones are thrown away instead of being put on the compost heap.
