JOBS IN THE GARDEN
October and bulb planting will set the tone for spring
If you think work in the garden was beginning to tail off- then really you should think again. Autumn and especially October is one of the most industrious times of the year.
Now is the time to put thought into how you want the garden to look when it ‘wakes up’ in spring
Bulb planting is a good example, and now is the time to think about how to light up the garden when it wakes after hibernation. The earlier you plant bulbs the better, for the soil is still warm, and getting the roots established before
the weather closes in will help them fight wet and rot. That said, tulips can go in as late as the end of November, so leave them until last. The general rule is that bulbs should be planted at two and a half times their own depth, and if you are planting in drifts, work on the principle that if you threw them in the air, you would plant where they landed.
Vegetables
By now the main crop potatoes should be ready. As the foliage dies back you can cut this off and leave the potatoes for a couple of weeks. This will prevent any stray blight spores from infecting your crop. Wait for a sunny dry day and dig up the potatoes, brushing off excess soil and letting them dry before storing in hessian or paper sacks in a frost free, dark shed.
The last of the beans should be picked now, compost the foliage but leave the roots with their nitrogen full nodules in the soil as a fertiliser.
Carrots can come up to be stored in sand or peat through the winter but leave the parsnips in the ground. They’ll be sweeter after a frost.
Cabbages should come up now too, they’ll keep remarkably well in that frost-free shed but beware the slug that may be lurking under the leaves. Sprinkling the outside with salt will deter them from eating away through the winter,
Any green tomatoes on outdoor plants may as well come in now before the frost gets them. You can make green tomato chutney or ripen them up indoors. Green tomatoes will
actually store quite well in cool conditions and slowly ripen or you can hasten the ripening process by popping them in a tray in a sunny windowsill with a ripe banana.
Pumpkin and gourds can be harvested now and moved into a dry position to prevent them from rotting. Pick windfall apples for cooking and twist those on the tree with half a turn to see if they’re ripe. If so, they’ll come away with a satisfying snap. The unblemished can be stored in a cool shed to last into the winter months.
It will soon be too late to put in spring cabbages, so get the plants in now.
You can plant your garlic now although this job will hold over into November easily. If you have time and the weather is fine, it’s worth doing it when you can because who knows what November’s weather will be?
Fruit
When the strawberries have finished tidy up the bed, cut off the tops, remove dead leaves and any rotting berries you missed under the foliage and remove self-planted runners.
Fruit bushes such as black and red currants should be pruned, as should the gooseberries. Now and November are good months to attend to the raspberries, blackberries etc. It’s also a good time to plant new canes, adding some compost and 8oz per square yard, or 250 grams per square metre, of bonemeal to keep them well fed.
You can sow broad beans now to get them off to an early start next year, but in colder areas it may be better to wait until spring as germination is more patchy on winter sowings. Better late than never.
Plus a few other tips
Remove any yellowing leaves from over-wintering brassicas, as they are of no use to the plant and will encourage botrytis to develop.
Lift the corms of gladioli when the leaves turn yellow, cut off the stems, dry the corms, rub clean, label varieties and store in a cool, mouse-free place.
When the leaves have been blackened by frost, dahlia tubers should be dug up. Cut off the stems at 2-3in above the tuber, remove all the loose soil, dry them in an airy place, dust with flowers of sulphur, and label and store in a cool dark place. The easiest way to apply sulphur is to shake the tubers in a plastic bag with handful of flowers of sulphur. Large old clumps of tubers are better divided next spring, when you plant them out again. Division now only makes wounds for mould to enter.
Country Gardener 23
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