Homes & Gardens
Autumn: a season for craft and graft
Autumn is a season to pause, take stock and roll your sleeves up for some pre-winter graft as the experts from Hadlow College’s Broadview Garden Centre offer some useful maintenance advice…
Sowing You can sow hardy annuals, and also Sweet Peas in a cold frame for an early crop of flowers next year. It is also a good time of year for moving plants, as they are under less stress now and will put out new roots for the following season.
chillier and the garden is starting to take on the comforting, orangey hues of autumn. Needless to say, it is the perfect time to
A
step back for a short while before the more arduous task of tidying up. But it also the best time to start planting for the spring time.
Planting
Now is the ideal time to plant spring flowering bulbs. Tere are a vast array available, including Iris reticulata types, tulips, daffodils, crocus, anemone blanda, miscari, hyacinth, and snowdrops. Many bulbs are now available as ‘collections’, which can provide wonderful combinations of colour and flower over an extended period.
Taylors, for example, produce a Bees and
Buterflies Collection, which are rich in nectar, and flower from February to July. Smaller bulbs and corms such as Snowdrops and Anemone can benefit from being planted in pots prior to planting out, to ensure they don’t dry out too much and you don’t forget where they are! It is an excellent time of year for planting a wide range of plants, as they have time to benefit from the warm soil and put down new roots over winter, therefore increasing their ability to establish well before the summer months.
Mid Kent Living 53
ſter a scorching summer, the hotest since 1976, the evenings have become
Many perennials can be easily divided at this time of year, which will help encourage vigour and flowering, with the general exception of spring flowering perennials, which are best divided in the summer. Some plants with fibrous roots, such as epimedium, can be teased apart into small pieces, but others with a hard crown may require division with a knife or spade. Tuberous rooted plants, such as hemerocallis, can be divided by using two forks back to back and pushing them against each other.
Weeding
Now is a good time to kill off perennial weeds, as the weeds will naturally take the chemical down to the roots for winter storage, helping to kill them off more efficiently.
Tidying Tidy the garden. Removal of old leaves from the bases of plants can help to reduce re-infection of any diseases the following year.
Any remaining deadheading can also be carried out, ensuring all vigour is going back into the plant. Remove the summer shading from the greenhouse and clean up, ready for moving in tender species for the winter. Net ponds to stop leaf fall into them.
Cutings Semi-ripe cutings can be taken from many evergreen species now, as can cutings from annuals such as pelargoniums, provided they are kept frost-free. Come October, hardwood cutings can be taken from many species, including cornus.
For further information visit:
www.broadviewgardens.co.uk htps://
www.hadlow.ac.uk/courses/ horticulture-garden-design
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