Gardening Tips this Autumn

With Autumn fast approaching we have decided to share some gardening tips for those of you with green fingers to help you prepare for the months ahead.

Autumn is a great time to make changes to your garden so that you will enjoy it even more next year. It is time to plant spring bulbs and many other plants, mulch your borders and prepare new ground for growing.

Things to do in the garden during autumn.

Mulch your flower borders.

Mulch is the thick, loose layer of material placed on top of bare soil in flower beds or containers.

Adding this layer helps to suppress weeds, increase water retention and improve the quality of the soil. It can also neaten the appearance of beds and protect roots from winter frost.

Popular materials used for mulching are garden compost, wood chippings, manure, and leaf mould.

Apply your mulch of choice in a layer 2-3 inches thick, taking care to leave space around the woody stems of plants.

Look after your soil

Leaving beds empty with exposed soil over winter is not good for soil health. Mulch empty vegetable and flower beds, as above, to protect them.

Alternatively, if they are full of weeds, you could cover them with a layer of cardboard or woollen carpet and leave the weeds to break down, ready for planting in spring. If possible, avoid digging the soil as this disturbs the structure and soil organisms.

Plant bulbs

Spring bulbs can be planted in pots or in your flower borders throughout autumn. Daffodils, Hyacinths, and Crocuses are best planted before the end of September when the soil is still warm. October and November are good times to plant your tulips.

Bulbs of Tulips, Crocuses and Daffodils can be planted in pots or your flower borders. If you have a large area of grass, try planting Crocus bulbs in drifts for a vibrant colour show in early spring.

If you are planting in pots, use a peat-free compost, and really pack your bulbs in for a great display – you can even layer them up for a succession of colour.

Clear leaves

When the leaves start to fall, and the season heads into mid to late autumn, it is a good idea to clear leaves from lawns to keep the grass healthy.

Use a rake or battery-powered leaf blower and keep the leaves to make leaf mould for feeding next year’s plants. Do this by piling leaves in wire cages and leaving them to break down.

If you are tight on space use strong bags tied at the top and add puncture holes near the base for air to circulate. This makes a good mulch to use on your plants the following year.

If your Roses had blackspot, removing fallen leaves from their base, and putting them in your garden waste collection or dustbin is a clever idea as the leaves can harbour this disease through winter.

Splitting your perennials

If some of your perennial flowers are doing well and have formed big clumps, you can lift them now and split them into sections. You can then replant one section back in the same spot and put another elsewhere in the garden or gift it to friends.

This works best with tough, cold-tolerant perennials such as Geraniums, lungwort, lady’s Mantle, Astrantia, and Phlox.

Happy Gardening from the Shorefield Country Park Grounds Team.