HINTS & TIPS OCTOBER
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courtesy of Gardeners World magazine https://www.gardenersworld.com/what-to-do-now-october/
Flowers
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Plant drifts of spring bulbs informally in a lawn, including crocuses, daffodils and fritillaries
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Lift tender cannas to avoid frost damage, dry off the tubers and store in cool dark conditions until spring
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Plant up cheery pot displays with winter colour, such as heathers, cyclamen, winter pansies and skimmia.
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Lift and pot up tender perennials, such as chocolate cosmos, gazanias and coleus, to protect over winter
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Plant evergreen shrubs and conifer hedges while the soil is still warm
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Remove any pot saucers and raise pots up onto feet to prevent waterlogging over winter
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Move deciduous shrubs that are in the wrong place or have outgrown their current position
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Wrap layers of fleece or straw around banana plants and tree ferns to protect from winter frosts
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Collect seeds from hardy perennials, such as astrantia, achillea and red valerian, and sow straight away
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Take hardwood cuttings from ornamental trees and shrubs
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Reduce the height of shrub roses to avoid windrock damage over winter
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Empty spent summer pots and hanging baskets, and compost the contents
Fruit & Veg
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Take cuttings of shrubby herbs, such as rosemary, lemon verbena and thyme
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Remove large fruits on fig trees that have failed to ripen, leaving pea-sized fruits to develop for harvesting next year
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Sow green manure, such as winter rye, rather than leaving soil bare over winter
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Cover salad plants with cloches to prolong cropping
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Keep sowing batches of hardy broad beans and peas outdoors for early crops next year
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Plant garlic cloves in a sunny well-drained spot, 15cm apart, with their tip 5cm below the surface
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Finish picking runner beans and French beans, but leave a few pods to ripen fully, so you can save the seeds
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Cut down the ferny shoots of asparagus to soil level once they've turned yellow, then add to the compost bin
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Divide large clumps of herbs, such as chives, lemon balm and marjoram, then replant or share with friends
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Wrap grease bands around the trunks of apple, pear, cherry and plum trees to trap the crawling female winter moth
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Clear away old crops, so they can't harbour pests and diseases on the veg plot through the winter
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Cut fruited stems of blackberries and autumn raspberries down to the ground
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Raise pumpkins and squash onto bricks to keep them dry and expose them to more sun, to ripen the skins
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Order bare-root fruit trees and bushes for planting from late autumn to early spring
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Plant out spring cabbages
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Raise pumpkins and squashes off the ground to aid ripening
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