It’s misty in the mornings and usually cold and damp until the sun breaks through.
October is a time for harvest and tidying up.
Don’t be too neat though – why not leave the odd Sunflower head for the birds. They’ll appreciate it.
Flower Garden
- Lift and store pelargoniums if necessary
- Protect early flowering chrysanthemums from frost
- Finish bringing in late flowering chrysanthemums
- Clear out summer annuals
- Plant any newly purchased perennials and divide existing perennials
- Continue planting out biennials and spring flowering bulbs
- Plant Lily-of-the valley
- Sow sweet peas
- Thin annual seedlings
- Pot on young plants
- Collect seed from allium seedheads and sow straight away into seed compost
- Plant evergreen shrubs and conifer hedges
- Carefully dig up gladioli corms and overwinter in cool, dry storage conditions
- Lift and pot up tender perennials to protect over winter
- Collect fallen leaves from under rose bushes so they don't carry diseases over to next year
- Lift and divide congested clumps of perennials
- Plant crocuses and dwarf bulbs in areas of rough grass
- Make sure tall, late-flowering chrysanthemums are well staked
- Divide large clumps of crocosmia and replant into freshly prepared soil
- Spread a thick mulch of compost or bark over the soil around dahlias and agapanthus
- Bring in the last vegetables for storage before the frosts. These include: Onions, Apples, Potatoes and Carrots
- Sow some more green manure in empty ground
- Plant more Tulip bulbs for next spring
- Sow some winter Lettuce, such as Arctic King, in the greenhouse or cold frame
- Leave some Runner Beans and French Beans on the plant to dry so that you can collect the seed
- Plant Garlic and Spring Cabbage
- Sow outdoor Broad beans and Peas now for a crop in early spring
- Feed Brussels Sprouts and Winter Cabbage now to encourage them on in time for Christmas
- Pot up some Parsley, Chives and Mint to use over the winter – dig up and discard annuals such as Coriander and Dill
- Tidy up your Strawberry patch by removing any yellow leaves and the last runners
- Keep harvesting root veg such as beetroot and carrots
- Order fruit trees and bushes for planting from late autumn
- Finish picking beans, but leave a few pods to ripen fully to save their seed
- Clear away plants and fading foliage from old crops
- Prune back canes of autumn-fruiting raspberries and blackberries after harvesting
- Harvest ripening tomatoes and courgettes before conditions turn cold
- Plant out Japanese onion sets and garlic
- Plant broad beans and hardy peas
- Sow sweet peas and pinch out the growing tips of seedlings for bushier plants
- Continue harvesting chillies, peppers and other crops
- Reduce watering potted tuberous begonias to allow the top growth to die down
- Bring pots of tender bulbs like agapanthus and eucomis into the greenhouse for the winter
- Let achimene, gloxinia and gloriosa die down in their pots
- Keep potted azaleas constantly moist using rainwater
- Plant bowls with hyacinths and spring bulbs
- Check greenhouse heaters are in working order and that you have fuel in stock
- Pot up roots of lily-of-the-valley to provide fragrant winter flowers
- Sow hardy annuals, like calendulas, in pots for early flowers
- Clean out bird boxes
- Level out dips in lawns with loam-based compost and sow fresh grass seed
- Clear away debris that could be sheltering slugs and snails
- Check bonfires before lighting, in case they are sheltering sleeping hedgehogs
- Send off for seed catalogues
- Mow lawns during dry weather with blades set high
- Bring garden hoses and sprinklers under cover for winter to avoid damage in freezing weather
- Collect canes and plant supports, and store them in the shed
- Sow a green manure crop over bare areas of ground, to dig into the ground as fertiliser in spring
- Throw a net over branches of holly berries to protect them from hungry birds
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