Gardening tips
In the flower garden…
• There’s still time to plant spring bulbs for a great display next spring.
• Now is the ideal time to plant shrubs for a beautiful display next year.
• Continue to lift dahlia tubers, begonias and other tender bulbs and corms to store dry over the winter months. Remove any dead foliage before storing.
• Cut back the yellowing foliage of herbaceous perennials, and lift and divide overcrowded clumps to maintain their vigour.
• Before the birds eat them all, cut a few stems of holly with berries for making Christmas arrangements. Stand them in a bucket of water in a sheltered spot where our feathered friends can’t take them.
• Plant out winter/spring bedding plants such as pansies, violas, primroses and polyanthus.
In the fruit garden…
• Now is the ideal time to plant currant bushes whilst they are dormant.
• Plant raspberry canes now for a delicious home grown crop.
• Apply glue bands to the trunks of fruit trees to prevent wingless female winter moths climbing the trunks and laying their eggs on the branches.
• Remove the top netting on fruit cages as heavy snow in winter can make it sag.
• Check stored fruit and promptly remove any showing signs of disease or rotting.
In the vegetable garden…
• Lift parsnips after the first frosts when their flavour will have sweetened.
• Divide mature clumps of rhubarb once they are dormant.
• Prepare bed for planting autumn garlic. Improve heavy soils with organic matter before planting.
• If you have fresh manure, now is the time to spread it across the surface of your vegetable beds to rot down over winter.
• Stake top-heavy brassicas and draw up some soil around the base of the stem to prevent wind rocking the plant and causing damage to the roots.
Looking after your lawn…
• If you haven’t already aerated your lawn, there’s still time to do it before winter sets in.
• Continue to clear fallen leaves off the lawn to keep it healthy.
• Remember to set your lawn mower to a higher cut-height for winter.
• Create neat edges on your beds.
