We often talk about “putting the garden to bed” around this time of year and there is certainly merit in carrying out the tasks involved with “tucking things in tight”. There are a myriad of jobs that will keep us busy through October and November and give the garden a head start when things start moving again in spring. Let’s take a look at some of the, wind down for winter, work.
Protect tender plants
Any plants that are tender or borderline hardy will need protection from winter cold and wet. Move any container plants inside, if possible, and wrap larger specimens such as tree ferns or shrubs with fleece or hessian using straw as an insulator.
Lifting Dahlias
Lift your Dahlia tubers when frost has blackened the stems. Cut back the stems 5cm from the ground and carefully remove the tubers from the soil using a garden fork. Clean, and stand them upside down for a few weeks to dry. The tubers can be stored in a tray of dry compost in a frost-free place.
Fallen leaves
Remove fallen leaves from the lawn and use them to make leaf mould that can be used as soil conditioner.
Clean out the greenhouse
Remove everything from the greenhouse, clean the paths and staging and clean the glass to maximise winter sunlight transmission. Ventilate the greenhouse for a few days to dry it thoroughly.
Tidy the beds and borders
Cut back faded herbaceous perennials to 5cm above ground level and spread a layer of mulch over the soil surface. Don’t be too thorough with the cutting though – leave attractive seed heads that look stunning when frosted and are refuge for over-wintering insects.
Autumn lawn care
Scarify the lawn using a spring-tined rake to remove thatch and moss and aerate the lawn using a garden fork. You can brush in a sandy top dressing afterwards.
Plant bare root trees and shrubs
Autumn is the bare root season and if you plant any new trees or shrubs now the roots will grow through the winter ensuring the plant is better established by next spring and summer.
Early flowering sweet peas
If you want some early flowering sweet peas now is the time to sow. Sow the seeds in 9cm pots or trays with good quality compost and place in a greenhouse or cold frame.
Winter vegetables
Winter salad leaves and brassicas can be sown as seeds or grown on as plug plants. Garlic can be planted just now for harvesting next summer and onion and shallot sets can also be planted. Autumn sown broad beans can be harvested up to a month before spring sown plants.
Maintenance of garden tools
Clean all your your hand tools and apply a layer of oil, using an old rag, to the metal parts. Sharpen the blades of secateurs and loppers and get the lawn mower serviced so that it is ready to go next spring.
This list is not exhaustive, and you can see that we gardeners continue to be busy all the way to Christmas. It is debateable whether the garden really does “go to bed for the winter” but it is phrase that has been used in the gardener’s lexicon for many years and expresses succinctly, the gardener’s autumn ritual. It is not for me to argue with that.