Tuesday 17 September 2013

Jobs you could begin in the garden over the next few weeks



Fruit and vegetables

  • Pick ripe apples and store the best in fruit crates
  • Dig up strawberry runners and pot them up
  • Net autumn raspberries and blackberries to protect them from birds
  • Lift and dry maincrop potatoes and store in paper sacks in a cool, dark place
  • Pot up a few herbs to bring into a porch or grow on the window sill
  • Sow broad beans and hardy peas for early crops next year
  • Vegetables to sow now include winter radishes, lettuce and salad leaves, spinach and spring onions


Flowers and bulbs

  • Buy tulips now while they're fresh in garden centres, but hold off planting till next month
  • Plant daffodils, hyacinths and crocus in pots
  • Lift and pot up tender perennials to protect over winter
  • Clear away faded summer bedding and annuals, composting the plants
  • Fork over bare patches ready for planting spring bulbs
  • Sow sweet peas in pots and protect the plants in a frame over winter
  • Sow hardy annuals in borders for earlier flowers next summer
  • Pinch out sweet pea seedling tips for bushier plants and more flowers next year
  • Collect and sow seeds from perennials and hardy annuals


Maintenance

  • Remove old crops that have finished and clear away weeds to leave your plot clean and tidy for the winter.
  • Improve soil by adding organic matter and/or horticultural grit
  • Clean out greenhouses and poly tunnels to reduce the risk of pests and diseases next year


Lawn care

  • Use a fork to aerator/spike your lawn and improve drainage
  • Raise the cutting height when mowing the lawn
  • Apply an autumn lawn food


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