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- October
- The Flower Garden
The Flower Garden
Fallen leaves are often regarded as a nuisance but they are an invaluable composting material and should never be wasted. Collect them up and add, in reasonable amounts, to the compost heap. Large quantities of leaves should be used to form a leaf mould heap in a corner of the garden. If space is limited it is possible to produce some leaf mould in a large plastic sack. Fill a dustbin liner (or similar) with layers of spent leaves; sprinkle a compost accelerator such as Garotta between the layers. Tie up tightly and leave outside until next spring, by which time the leaves should have decomposed sufficiently to make useful garden mulch. Fallen leaves can also be used directly in the borders or vegetable garden by carefully wedging them in to the soil.
Tidy herbaceous borders by cutting down yellowing stems, remove fallen leaves, plant debris and weeds. Lightly fork over the surface of the soil but do not disturb roots. However, in colder, northern areas the dead material offers some protection against cold wind and frost and can be left un-pruned or cut and placed over the roots of more tender subjects. Leave seed heads as food for birds and animals while older stems make good over-wintering habitats for many beneficial insects and consider setting up an Insect Hotel to offer further valuable refuge for these. Slug control should be continued right through the winter to avoid damage to the dormant crowns of plant such as hostas.
Finish spring bulb planting as soon as possible, except for tulips which can wait until November. Remove summer bedding plants as soon as possible to enable spring bedding to become established before winter sets in. Prepare flowerbeds for spring bedding by incorporating a slow release fertilizer (low in nitrogen) such as fish blood and bone. Newer cultivars of Wallflower are now available that are shorter and bushier in habit and often sold pot grown, remember that these need firm planting. It’s sound advice to select Pansies, Panolas and Violas in flower in ensure a good autumn display. Polyanthus, Sweet Williams and Forget-me-Nots can also be planted this month. For a change, why not plant up containers with dwarf evergreen shrubs, heuchera, grasses and winter heathers, under-planting with a selection of dwarf bulbs in order to provide extra flowers? Keep pots off the ground with pot feet to improve drainage, this will also help prevent serious frost damage to root-balls.
Sow a few pots of Sweet Peas for early planting next year. These need to be grown as cold as possible so keep the pots in a well-ventilated cold frame (not a greenhouse), only covering when frost is threatening. Use deep 5” pots for sowing and transplant individually to 3” pots and stop (pinch out the growing tip) once.
October is also the best month for planting evergreens as well as deciduous subjects as the ground is generally moist enough to ensure that any subjects planted readily establish. Autumn and early winter planting has an advantage over spring planting in that the ground is still warm and it allows many subjects especially deciduous plants to make new extensive root systems during the winter months. October is also your last chance for lifting, dividing and replanting herbaceous plants especially those subjects that flower early next spring.
It is good practice to remove weeds that may harbour pests and diseases. There are still plenty of examples of pests, diseases and nutritional problems but, as most of these are on deciduous subjects, I can see no real benefit in applying sprays this late in the season. The conifer aphid can be a problem and here it would be beneficial to apply Provado Ultimate Bug Killer to kill any adults in an attempt to prevent them laying a late batch of eggs: a thorough covering of the host plant using a fine mist on the sprayer is essential.
Perhaps the best tip of all is to be prepared for colder weather and be aware of the best way to protect your half hardy or tender plants. Ensure that you have material such as fleece and straw handy (never polythene as this can harbour damp and disease). Find somewhere suitable that is frost free to put those cherished plants during the winter months. If you don’t have anywhere suitable indoors, learn where the warmer spots are in your garden, for instance the house wall will give a good degree of protection to many plants.
Geraniums and fuchsias enjoy cool conditions and one of the dangers of October is to bring plants from relatively cold conditions out of doors where the humidity is high and then bring them into high temperatures where the humidity is low. Some plants such as citrus that have been out of doors during the summer months will suddenly drop shrivelled leaves when they are brought indoors as they cannot adjust to the higher temperatures and dry conditions. Move these initially to a cooler place and increase the humidity by spraying etc. Remember that many plants such as begonia corms, gladioli corms and dahlia tubers can be left in the ground until the first frosts arrive.
Various plants that are borderline on hardiness (such as Fuchsias, Salvias and Cannas) will benefit from an application of sulphate of potash to toughen them up and to mulch with course dry organic material to protect the root zone and the neck of the plant from freezing. These can work well on free-draining soil in sheltered gardens but on heavier soils these subjects are best given greenhouse protection.
Do remember the vast difference between an unheated greenhouse and one that is kept just frost free using an electric heater with a frost free setting. Many plants will survive being kept just frost free but most subjects that are classified as half hardy perennials will die if subject to frost even if the greenhouse is lined with bubble insulation or fleece. Frosts in October and early November are far more damaging than very low temperatures at the height of winter when plants are far more able to withstand the cold conditions so do prepared to listen carefully to the weather forecasts and be ready to protect all those tender plants.
Pruning of climbing roses should begin this month (rambling roses are pruned in late summer). First remove dead, diseased or dying branches using a good pair of secateurs. If it’s an older plant that needs thinning, cut out any some of the old branches from the base to promote new growth. Tie in any new shoots and prune any flowered side shoots back by two thirds of their length. Gather up any diseased leaves and burn.
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