OCTOBER

OCTOBER is time to PLANT, HARVEST, STORE and CLEAR LEAVES.
It is also time to help your HEDGEHOGS.
CHECKLIST OF KEY TASKS FOR OCTOBER:
PATIOS & BORDERS
Plant wallflowers out to provide a great display and fantastic scent in spring.
Sow sweet peas for the best and earliest blooms. Sow them in extra deep pots.
Plants established now can be overwintered in a cold greenhouse, frame or glazed porch and will tolerate some frost.
Plant winter flowering pansies out now but look for those that are already in flower or have buds showing.
Those without buds now may not flower well until spring. Don't forget to take precautions against slug and snail attack. Watch for greenfly in winter.
TREES & SHRUBS
Wrap the stems of palms, bananas and tender palms with fleece. Use their leaves to give added insulation to the all important growing tip inside.
Put a generous wadge of straw in the tops of tree ferns and wrap their stems too if they are in a cold place.
Lift dahlia roots and store them in a frost free place for winter.
Cut the tops back to about 8-10cm and stand them upside down for a few days to let the excess water drain out of the stems.
PLANTING & PRUNING
Transplant evergreen shrubs. Dig them with a generous ball of soil to protect the roots and minimise disturbance.
Some large roots may have to be cut but retain as many fibrous roots as possible. These roots are the important ones to get your plant re-established.
Reduce the height of bush roses by trimming them back by a third to a half their height.
This will reduce the likelihood of the roots being damaged by the tops rocking around in the wind in winter gales.
Clear up and burn any diseased leaves.
Plant new roses.
Plant any sort of tree, shrub, climber, perennial, conifer, rockery plant and heather this month, as long as they are hardy. This is the very best month for planting
FRUIT GARDEN
Pick main crop varieties of apples and pears.
Choose only the unblemished sound fruits to store, the others should be discarded or eaten straight away.
Apples can be stored quite well in ordinary clear freezer bags.
Check the fruit regularly and remove any that are ripe or rotten.
This way fruit can be stored easily well into winter but they must be varieties that keep well.
Pears are better stored individually and watched carefully for the rapid ripening process they have.
Remove any 'mummified' fruits from apples and plum trees.
These will have been infected with 'Brown Rot' and the spores on these dried up fruits, often stuck together in clusters, could infect next years crop if left
on the tree or the ground underneath.
Plant all forms of fruit trees, bushes and canes this month; this is the best time for planting.
VEGETABLE GARDEN
Pull up runner bean plants and put them on the compost heap. Store the poles in a dry place for next year.
Sow mustard & cress for a nutritious salad or garnish.
Grow them on a windowsill in damp kitchen roll lined trays or punnets.
LAWNS, HEDGES & PATHS
If there are frosts, try not to walk on the grass.
THE GREENHOUSE
Clean shade material off greenhouses now.
Wash the glass to get the maximum light into your plants.
Lift and pot pelargoniums and tender varieties of fuchsias before the first frost gets them.
Trim them back by about half and pot them into a good quality potting compost.
Place in a greenhouse with frost protection or put them onto a well lit windowsill. Spray them with a fungicide.
SOIL
If your soil is "heavy" and has a high percentage of clay and/or silt content digging in lots of organic matter helps.
If you are trying to grow lime hating plants and your soil is naturally alkaline [limey], add sulphate of iron to the soil and gently hoe it in now.
This will lower the pH of the soil and enable you to grow rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias and the summer flowering group of heathers.
PONDS
Erect a net over your pond to prevent falling leaves from trees and shrubs getting into the water and increasing the nutrient levels when they breakdown. They may also deprive the fish of oxygen as they decompose.
WILDLIFE
Step up the bird feeding this month.
A variety of feeds will bring a variety of birds to your garden. Don't rush to cut off flower seed heads as these could provide free bird food.
Put up ladybird/lacewing over-wintering lodges to help these useful insects over-winter. They will help you with pest control next year.
Install a shelter for toads, hedgehog and bat boxes. Both these will encourage these very useful and interesting mammals.
Install a birdbath; birds need to maintain their feathers as much in winter as summer.
The end of October/beginning of November is the time for the gardener to really care for garden hedgehogs.
The hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is regarded as particularly ‘British’ and is loved by children and by gardeners.
OCTOBER GARDEN CHORES:
It is also time to help your HEDGEHOGS.
CHECKLIST OF KEY TASKS FOR OCTOBER:
- Sow sweet peas and plant wallflowers.
- Plant winter flowering pansies.
- This is the best month to plant roses.
- Prune lavender.
- Lift and store gladioli and dahlia roots.
- Put up ladybird/lacewing over-wintering lodges.
- Plant all forms of fruit trees, bushes and canes this month.
- Plant any sort of tree, shrub, climber, perennial, conifer, rockery plant and heather this month.
- Sweep up leaves and remove leaves from ponds.
- This is the month to think about hedgehog care and prepare homes for them in your garden.
PATIOS & BORDERS
Plant wallflowers out to provide a great display and fantastic scent in spring.
Sow sweet peas for the best and earliest blooms. Sow them in extra deep pots.
Plants established now can be overwintered in a cold greenhouse, frame or glazed porch and will tolerate some frost.
Plant winter flowering pansies out now but look for those that are already in flower or have buds showing.
Those without buds now may not flower well until spring. Don't forget to take precautions against slug and snail attack. Watch for greenfly in winter.
TREES & SHRUBS
Wrap the stems of palms, bananas and tender palms with fleece. Use their leaves to give added insulation to the all important growing tip inside.
Put a generous wadge of straw in the tops of tree ferns and wrap their stems too if they are in a cold place.
Lift dahlia roots and store them in a frost free place for winter.
Cut the tops back to about 8-10cm and stand them upside down for a few days to let the excess water drain out of the stems.
PLANTING & PRUNING
Transplant evergreen shrubs. Dig them with a generous ball of soil to protect the roots and minimise disturbance.
Some large roots may have to be cut but retain as many fibrous roots as possible. These roots are the important ones to get your plant re-established.
Reduce the height of bush roses by trimming them back by a third to a half their height.
This will reduce the likelihood of the roots being damaged by the tops rocking around in the wind in winter gales.
Clear up and burn any diseased leaves.
Plant new roses.
Plant any sort of tree, shrub, climber, perennial, conifer, rockery plant and heather this month, as long as they are hardy. This is the very best month for planting
FRUIT GARDEN
Pick main crop varieties of apples and pears.
Choose only the unblemished sound fruits to store, the others should be discarded or eaten straight away.
Apples can be stored quite well in ordinary clear freezer bags.
Check the fruit regularly and remove any that are ripe or rotten.
This way fruit can be stored easily well into winter but they must be varieties that keep well.
Pears are better stored individually and watched carefully for the rapid ripening process they have.
Remove any 'mummified' fruits from apples and plum trees.
These will have been infected with 'Brown Rot' and the spores on these dried up fruits, often stuck together in clusters, could infect next years crop if left
on the tree or the ground underneath.
Plant all forms of fruit trees, bushes and canes this month; this is the best time for planting.
VEGETABLE GARDEN
Pull up runner bean plants and put them on the compost heap. Store the poles in a dry place for next year.
Sow mustard & cress for a nutritious salad or garnish.
Grow them on a windowsill in damp kitchen roll lined trays or punnets.
LAWNS, HEDGES & PATHS
If there are frosts, try not to walk on the grass.
THE GREENHOUSE
Clean shade material off greenhouses now.
Wash the glass to get the maximum light into your plants.
Lift and pot pelargoniums and tender varieties of fuchsias before the first frost gets them.
Trim them back by about half and pot them into a good quality potting compost.
Place in a greenhouse with frost protection or put them onto a well lit windowsill. Spray them with a fungicide.
SOIL
If your soil is "heavy" and has a high percentage of clay and/or silt content digging in lots of organic matter helps.
If you are trying to grow lime hating plants and your soil is naturally alkaline [limey], add sulphate of iron to the soil and gently hoe it in now.
This will lower the pH of the soil and enable you to grow rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias and the summer flowering group of heathers.
PONDS
Erect a net over your pond to prevent falling leaves from trees and shrubs getting into the water and increasing the nutrient levels when they breakdown. They may also deprive the fish of oxygen as they decompose.
WILDLIFE
Step up the bird feeding this month.
A variety of feeds will bring a variety of birds to your garden. Don't rush to cut off flower seed heads as these could provide free bird food.
Put up ladybird/lacewing over-wintering lodges to help these useful insects over-winter. They will help you with pest control next year.
Install a shelter for toads, hedgehog and bat boxes. Both these will encourage these very useful and interesting mammals.
Install a birdbath; birds need to maintain their feathers as much in winter as summer.
The end of October/beginning of November is the time for the gardener to really care for garden hedgehogs.
The hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is regarded as particularly ‘British’ and is loved by children and by gardeners.
OCTOBER GARDEN CHORES:
- Pull up runner bean plants and put them on the compost heap. Store the poles in a dry place for next year.
- Sweep up leaves regularly, don't let them lie on your grass and spoil it. You can turn this valuable and free resource into good compost.
- Wrap tender plants with a tent made of a tripod of bamboo canes and a covering of horticultural fleece.
- Remove dead leaves from pond plants as they die back.