Garden Centre

Saturday, October 25, 2008

October lawns, butterflies and plants

A few years ago the advice I would have been giving for October would have been very different. For example, I’d have been telling you with complete confidence that in October you should cut the lawn for the last time – and yet, looking back over my notes for 2007 and 2006, I notice that we carried on cutting the lawn until the first week of December!

I’d also be telling you to prune your shrubs, but now, with the increasingly warm and wet autumns we’re having, I’d say you should wait to prune until a period of cold weather and frost is predicted, because you want the pruning cuts to seal swiftly and cold weather promotes sealing of mature wood, while merely cool weather, especially when associated with damp conditions is an invitation to fungal and other infestations to move in. And while October was also the traditional month to sow seeds from trees and shrubs, if these seeds need a period of cold to germinate you may be better waiting until November, because seeds sitting in pots of damp compost are prone to rotting or damping off.

There are tasks that you can complete regardless of the changing weather patterns: split and divide herbaceous plants that are starting to look weak or overcrowded; weed and mulch your herbaceous border; check tree stakes before winter gales arrive.

It’s also a month to take note of the last of the summer wildlife – my garden fills with red admiral butterflies whenever the sun comes out: they feed on fallen apples and pears and take nectar from Michaelmas daisies and sedums to see them through their winter hibernation. Not since 2005 have we seen any painted lady butterflies on their southern migration, but we live in hope.

One reason I only have two little containers with summer bedding plants is that I find it almost impossible to dig the plants out of the soil while they are still looking great, but it’s a necessary task if you want to have spring bedding looking at its best next year. This is because it needs to go in the ground now, to get its root systems well established while there is still some warmth left in the soil – plants such as wallflowers, polyanthus and primroses leap ahead in spring if they can get their roots down reasonably early in the autumn. Equally, winter pansies are much more likely to flower through the winter if they are established before the cold weather comes to slow them down.

Painted Lady courtesy of Ben Matthews

Labels: autumn butterflies, autumn flowers, autumn lawn, autumn pruning, autumn seeds

The All Seasons Gardener at 2:11 PM

---