Autumn reaches its’ peak in October. The colours are at their best, not yet spoiled by wind & rain. There’s still a reasonable amount of daylight & the light is low & soft, making autumn colours glow beautifully. It’s worth bearing in mind that when you plant for autumn colour, place the plant so that it is backlit by the the setting sun.
There is an inevitable march towards winter…. but first there are treats.
The ordering & planting of spring flowering bulbs, such good value. Plant them in the garden, in pots for the front door, boxes by the back door & in small pots to give away next year to friends – Iris reticulata & Narcissus tete-a-tete are particularly good for this.
Tulip Abu Hassan
Remember to leave tulip planting until November or even December.
Clearance is best kept to a minimum. Cutting & edging the grass, sweeping leaves from paths & lawns is all the tidying that needs to be done to keep everything looking good.
Plan any planting of trees, shrubs & hedging, because the bare-root season is almost here. Bare root plants are a much cheaper alternative to those sold in pots, & because the roots haven’t been constrained by pots, they seem to get away & grow more quickly. Whichever you decide to use, plan & order now.
Move tender plants, pelargoniums & the like into the greenhouse. I housed my favourite Pelargonium sidoides in the greenhouse last winter, & it almost didn’t survive. This winter its coming inside to live on a cool window-sill.
I haven’t got a photo of Pelargonium sidoides, but here’s Pelargonium ardens, which is almost as lovely.
VEGETABLES:
There’s a different approach to clearing the vegetable plot/allotment from the ornamental part of the garden.
Old foliage & plant debris needs to be cleared away & piled in the compost bin, unless it’s diseased. Bare soil is unnatural in nature & it’s easily degraded by rain, but easily solved by sowing green manure. October is a bit late for sowing, but our garden is quite sheltered, so there’s a good chance it’ll be fine. Green manures are plants that cover the soil, add nutrients & are dug back into the soil at the end of the winter to improve its’ structure.
You can buy different types depending on the time of year.
Garlic – Two reasons to plant garlic now
- an earlier crop next year,
- and it benefits from a winter frost.
Plan the planting so it’s not growing in the same bed as last year.
I don’t use shop bought garlic, ( thanks Martin for reminding me in your comment below!) its origin isn’t always on the label & if its from Spain it may not do well in our colder climate. Once you’ve had a good crop, you can save some of the plumpest cloves to plant & keep the garlic cycle going. A nice sustainable solution.
garlic cloves ready for planting
I’m planting garlic & sowing broad beans this month. Aquadulce is a good hardy variety of broad bean that’ll survive winter. There’s a second chance to sow broad beans in March if you don’t get round to it now.
Spinach & kale are doing well here, netted against pigeons, they’ll be the mainstay of the vegetable patch this winter.
Garden Organic has a very informative piece about green manure here. I’ve bought seeds from Green Organic. Have you ever used it?
Jill
all photos: Jill Anderson
I have looked at and used Garden Organic. My favourite is ‘Real Seeds’, in particular for their chatty and informative style of presentation and detail of where their seeds come from.
I had my first successful garlic crop this year, autumn planting, but most important was buying garlic intended for planting, not trying to use shop bought garlic, and most important of all – plenty of food.
Autumn broad bean planting has seen patchy germination, and the March sowing catch up quickly, meaning there is little advantage to an Autumn sowing. Autumn sowing of peas was even worse, even using recommended North French varieties – it may be that Leeds is too far north,
Hi Martin, just had a look at Real Seeds & it looks good, I’ll go back when I’ve got more time … thanks for the recommendation!
I’ll edit this post & mention not using shop bought garlic, a lot is imported from China & you never know exactly what you’re getting. I’ve saved the plumpest cloves from home grown garlic to plant the following year with good results.
I think you may be right about Leeds being too far north for autumn sown broad beans, but a sheltered position could help, heavier soil is colder too. All things considered though, its best to wait till spring because its so disappointing (also costly) when the results are poor!