Garden Centre

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Having a great autumn garden

There’s a reason that open gardens happen in spring, in the UK, not autumn – it’s that autumn gardens are generally pretty messy affairs.

Here are a few ways to make sure your autumn garden is show-worthy next year:

• A wet summer means autumn mildew and rot – clear away vegetation now, so that you don’t store up problems for next year. Make sure paths are cleaned too, so they don’t harbour spores and infections that you’ll walk all over the garden in spring. Remove yellowing or dead leaves or flowers before rot develops, that also gives you a chance to get rid of weeds hiding under the plant foliage.
• This is the best time to turn your compost heap, aerating it so that it can rot down through the winter, hopefully giving you lovely planting out material in spring.
• Get your spring bulbs, especially daffodils and tulips, in the ground while it is still warm and moisture levels are increasing so plants can settle in before the cold hits.
• You should be mowing less frequently and raising the cut to keep the grass taller. Give your lawn a potassium-rich feed this month to keep it strong through the winter.

Autumn beauty courtesy of davida3

Labels: autumn flowers, autumn garden, autumn lawn

The All Seasons Gardener at 10:39 AM

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