Early October gardens still have a feeling of lushness about them that slowly changes as the daylight hours shorten. We see flower borders full of late flowering perennials slowly turn to seed; and orchards full of fruit give way to trees covered with brightly coloured foliage.
October is a very dramatic month in the garden. Mild days entice us to linger in a sunny spot of a walled garden to enjoy the show. Cold, wet and windy days make us reach for a jumper and wellies and wonder if it will be easier or more difficult to collect up the leaves now they’re wet…
3 Gardening Tasks for October
A bit of a tidy up in the garden is a good idea at the beginning of the month. The days are still warm enough for you to empty the greenhouse and potting shed. Oh yes, and tidy the heaps of pots that have been sitting in a corner since you last went to the garden centre.
Growing bulbs for Christmas – Hyacinths, Hippeastrum and even Daffodils can all be forced to flower at Christmas. Colourful, scented flowers to decorate your home or to give as presents. We have tips on how to do it and suggestions for some flowering bulbs to try.
Pumpkins may be traditional for Halloween (click the link for way to “spookify” your garden!) but winter squash have far more to offer than that. Winter squash store well in a cool shed or pantry. Small varieties such as ‘sweet dumpling’ that can be grown up a trellis when space is really tight. So lots of us can enjoy growing our own pumpkins and eating them throughout the winter. You might like to try the Three Sisters method of growing squash, corn and beans together.
Gardening Tasks for October – extra
Weeding, deadheading and pruning your flower borders and vegetable garden as you gather in your harvested crops also counts as tidying up. The removal of foliage that may have grey mould or powdery mildew stops the spread to other garden plants.
Gardens to visit this month
I always feel that the choice of garden to visit on October depends on when in the month you’re planning to visit. The south west of England and the Channel Islands and the north west of Scotland especially have much to offer in the way of mid-autumn colour from both flowers and foliage.
Why not try visit Armadale Castle , a lovely garden in Skye and admire the white stemmed Himalayan birch contrasting with the autumnal foliage?
And there are still beautiful autumn gardens open, including some Yellow Book scheme gardens. I love the National Garden Scheme, where you can enjoy mooching round smaller gardens as well as large, eat cake, perhaps buy plants and donate to charity. What other reasons do you need to visit?!
Would you like more gardening tips, garden design ideas and seasonal gardens to visit?
Why not sign up for Plews monthly gardening tip sheet? Then your Gardening Tasks for October will be easily accessible! Plews News will land in your inbox the first full week of every month.
And why not check out weekly gardening blog articles on a range of topics in Plews Potting Shed?
For example, recent blogs include Dwarf Daffodils for Spring Colour and The four o’clock plant
“interesting even if you have no intention of picking up a spade”
Thanks Tim, who is a regular reader if a reluctant gardener!
Plews Gardening Printables for You
A range of free downloadable and printable PDFs on seasonal gardening, garden history snippets, vegetable gardening, garden design, themed planting lists for inspiration, garden planning, record keeping for you and your garden. For example a list of Plants called Dragon to take shopping – it is Chinese Year of the Dragon after all!
It comes with the planting list and link to the blog
Plews Gardening eBooks for You
Available to purchase from Plews (via PayPal); safe download directly from the website and also from Amazon and Kindle library.
It’s the time of year when many gardeners think about composting (must be all those fallen leaves!) Why not treat yourself to Marie’s “Compost and Composting” eBook?
This composting book is for those gardeners who: –
- have tried to compost in the past to feel re-assured that they can still succeed
- would like to have a go at composting in their garden but are not sure where to start
“Witty, entertaining and informative”
(Amazon review)
And remember – Plews Gardening Gift Vouchers are available all year for all our services and products.
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