Another academic year is underway; the boys have been booted back to school and some semblance of routine is returning. After some mixed summer weather, the handful of clear blue skies we’ve had this month has been a welcome relief. My garden has run riot recently, so I’ve definitely got my work cut out. Here is a selection from my own to-do list.
Tidy-up herbaceous perennials
Dead-head or even cut right down perennials that have finished flowering, if they are looking untidy. If seed-heads look attractive, consider leaving them for some winter interest, and as a source of food for garden wildlife. Relocate self-seeded biennials such as foxgloves and teasels, if they aren’t growing in convenient locations.
Relocate self-seeded biennials if necessary - such as teasels.
Container plants
Once summer bedding plants have finished flowering, they can be lifted and consigned to the compost heap. Cease feeding container shrubs and trees, to prevent them putting on a flush of soft growth which would then be susceptible to frost damage. You can, however, give containerised shrubs and trees one last feed of rock potash to ripen up the wood, which provides protection against the winter cold.
Fruit and veg
Lift maincrop potatoes on a warm sunny day, and leave them on the soil surface for a couple of hours, to dry off. Store undamaged potatoes in paper or hessian sacks, in a dark, dry, frost-free place, to prevent them turning green and / or rotting.
I’ll be planting my autumn onion sets in the next few weeks; I plant them about 8cm apart, tips showing, in the window boxes that I have hanging on my decking balustrade - once I’ve cleared out the straggly nasturtiums. I cover them with chicken wire to protect them against our resident pair of jays, and the numerous pesky squirrels.
Pest control
Pest activity is starting to slow down, but now is a good time to apply nematode control against slugs, vine weevil and lawn pests such as leather jackets, whilst the soil temperature is still high enough for these treatments to be effective. Weeding, and tidying away the dead foliage of herbaceous perennials also removes hiding places for the slugs.
Halloween preparation!
Our recent family holiday to Switzerland included a visit to a maize-maze on a farm also dedicated to growing every type of Cucurbit (Squashes, pumpkins, gourds etc.) under the sun. If you are growing pumpkins and squashes of your own, place boards or tiles underneath them, to prevent them rotting where they touch the soil. Harvest them with a long stalk (this also prevents them rotting) and leave them in the sun or greenhouse to allow their skins to cure and harden to prolong storage.
