- GARDEN - PATIO - FRUIT & VEG - GREENHOUSE - LAWN -
Trees and shrubs will now start to show their autumn colour, while summer bedding plants are producing their last flowers of the year. It's time to tidy up rose and flower beds, make the most of summer's fruit and vegetable harvest and prepare the lawn and garden for winter. Remember that autumn is nature's time for planting shrubs and trees, Buy and plant all new hardy material while soils are still warm but adequately moist.
 THE GARDEN
As bedding starts to fade it is almost time to clear away these unwanted plants so that you have room for planting spring bulbs, corms, winter pansies, wallflowers and other spring flowers.
Before digging your existing plants out, check beds for weeds and decide on the most appropriate treatment.
If you spot pernicious weeds such as bindweed, thistles and ground elder, then you could spray them with Roundup GC or Tumbleweed Original Extra Strong. Do this before digging out the bedding or disturbing the roots of the weeds. Pick a dry, calm day without any wind and spray all the weed leaves to give an even coverage. Leave for a couple of weeks for the glyphosate weedkiller to get down to kill the complete roots system before digging and tidying up the bed.
Before digging up pelargoniums take cuttings. At the same time take up all sticks and canes used for support and store them away in a dry place to prevent decay.
Before planting new material clear all remaining weeds so that you have a clean start to winter.
On heavy clay soil add a soil conditioner such as Levington's and Mulch or the remains from finished Gro-Bags to the surface and dig in. Plant bulbs at the required depth and fill in the area with winter and spring bedding. A feed of Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Plant Food just after planting and again a couple of weeks later will help these plants to produce a good roots system and encourage good flowering during mild spells.
Give winter flowering heathers (Erica carnea), rhododendrons and azaleas their last feed with a plant food such as Miracle-Gro Ericaceous Plant Food.
Dead head roses and consider spraying with RoseClear to ensure autumn protection from greenfly and mildew. This late spray will also help to protect the plant from blackspot disease which may be present inside the leaves.
topical tip
When the flower borders have been tidied up and fully planted, add a mulch of Levington Decorative Chipped Forest Bark. This attractive and protective organic layer will hold in moisture, protect roots from severe frosts and reduce the amount of weed seed germination. A dressing of SlugClear Mini-Pellets will ensure slugs and snails are controlled during showery weather.
 ON THE PATIO
More and more people are planting up patio pots and containers for winter interest. Use Levington Multi-Purpose Compost as this contains a special wetting agent to help reduce the risk of waterlogging. To maximise the effectiveness of this agent and to ensure excess water drains away quickly add a few broken shards of pottery to keep the drain holes clear and use pot 'feet' to ensure drainage remains unimpeded.
You can wait until October to plant tulips in pots and containers, but daffodils appreciate a long growing period so they can produce a sturdy root system. Enrich the compost you use with a controlled release plant food such as Osmocote or Miracle-Gro Shake & Feed to encourage the new plantings to produce strong, sturdy plants. Fill in the top of the container with winter flowering pansies, polyanthus, wallflowers, bellis and forget-me-nots.
Do not let weeds set seed on the patio or you will be plagued next spring. The quickest way is to wet these annual weeds with Pathclear or Pathclear Gun! and watch them turn brown and die over the next few days.
Watch out for climbing perennial weeds such as the dreaded bindweed which may creep from next door's garden to twine up your side of the fence. Digging out the roots is not possible when they are coming from your neighbour's garden, but you can use Roundup GC or Tumbleweed Original Extra Strong to kill the roots that spread far and deep on the other side. These weedkillers contain glyphosate which is absorbed by the weed leaves and moves throughout the plant. The systemic activity moves the weedkiller up to growing points and down to the tips of the roots to kill the whole plant.
 LAWNS
Most lawns will have suffered from wear and tear during the summer and need some attention if they are to wake up next spring looking thick, healthy and attractive.
Dead leaves left on the lawn for a few weeks will encourage bare patches and worm casts. That's why it is important to rake up the leaves at least once a week. To turn these damaging leaves into valuable organic leaf mould gather them together in a heap and add a special compost activator such as Biotal Compost Activator for Leaves.
Now is the time to aerate the lawn surface by driving a garden fork or hollow tine tool into the surface every 15 cm (6 inches). This will improve drainage and allow air to the roots. It will also relieve compaction to areas that are heavily used, although if you and your family are creating a natural path it may be worthwhile laying stepping stones to stop the damage.
At this time of the year growth of grass leaves slows down and available energy is put into root development and the production of side shoots, an action called tillering by groundsmen and turf experts. To encourage this tillering and root development in your own domestic lawn apply a special autumn lawn food that contains some nitrogen and plenty of phosphates such as EverGreen Autumn and Scotts Autumn Lawn Builder. These nutrients will help to produce a thicker, greener lawn this autumn and one that will green up quicker in the spring.
To prepare the lawn for the rigours of winter, feed the grass with a special autumn lawn food such as Evergreen Autumn or Scotts Autumn Lawn Builder. These special foods will encourage a stronger, deeper root system and harden off growth.
For the average sized lawn the 100 sq. metre pack of EverGreen Autumn comes complete with a ready-for-use spreader and provides easy lawn care in a can. For the larger lawn both products are available in large sacks that can be quickly and easily distributed through the EverGreen Easy Spreader.
topical tip
Ugly bare patches can be quickly repaired by sprinkling the correct mixture of grass seed over the area. Rake the area to provide a loose surface and scatter 1 ounce of EverGreen Multi-Purpose Grass Seed over each square yard (35g per sq. m).
 FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
vegetables
Gather French and runner beans regularly and freeze any excess. Watch out for late infestations of blackfly and spray as soon as the first signs are seen on the newer shoots. Use an insecticide that does not restrict harvesting of food crops such as BugClear, BugClear Gun! or Nature's Answer Natural Pest Control. Both contain insecticides that allow the picking of food crops on the same day or the day after treatment.
Maincrop potatoes should be dug during September, or at the latest, the beginning of October. The stems and foliage, called haulms, will turn brown and start to die off. Cut the stems at soil level, remove the haulms and leave for about 10 days for the skins to set. Then on a dry day dig out all the potatoes and leave on top of the soil for a few hours. Place them in hessian sacks or wooden boxes and store in a dark, frost-free shed ready to be used throughout the winter.
Sweetcorn plants should be producing succulent cobs which will benefit from weekly feeds with Miracle-Gro Plant Food to encourage swelling. Test for ripeness when the silks turn a chocolate brown colour. When squeezed the kernels produce a clear liquid before ripeness and a milky liquid when ready. For maximum flavour, eat or freeze as soon as harvested.
Stake tall plants of Brussels sprouts and other brassicas and protect the developing foliage from pigeons and sparrows. At this time of the year caterpillars could well attack these greens. Look for yellow eggs of the cabbage white butterfly on the underside of leaves and remove between the thumb and forefinger to reduce the population ready to emerge. When you see the first caterpillars emerge, as they surely will, spray the plants thoroughly with BugClear, BugClear Gun! or Natures Answer Natural Pest Control. Firm the soil around the stems of Brusssels sprouts so that the first picking, ready during October, will form firm buttons.
topical tip
For an early crop of onions next year sow seed of Japanese onions now or plant sets at the end of September. For a winter crop of carrots sow under cloches using a quick maturing variety such as Amsterdam Forcing or Early Nantes.
fruit
Harvest blackberries, loganberries and autumn fruiting raspberries as the fruit ripens. A few feeds of dilute Miracle-Gro Ericaceous Plant Food will provide the necessary chelated iron and essential nutrients to encourage a strong crop.
Maincrop raspberries should have their new stems tied onto supporting wires as they develop to maintain a tidy appearance and prevent wind battering during winter.
topical tip
When peaches start to loose their leaves check the fallen foliage for small red pustules that indicate the presence of peach leaf curl disease. If these are found spray the whole plant now with Murphy Traditional Copper Fungicide and remember to spray again in February as the new leaves emerge.
 IN THE GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY
Clear out tomatoes, cucumbers and aubergines when all fruit has finished ripening. These are almost sure to have whitefly infestations by this time of the year, so cut off stems at compost level and seal in a plastic bag ready for disposal at the local tip.
The contents of growing-bags that have finished should be used as organic soil improver in the garden where it should be dug into the top few inches of soil or mixed in with the contents of the compost heap.
When you have physically removed the obvious plants harbouring whitefly spray the remaining plants with Nature's Answer Natural Pest Control. Only the adult whitefly are controlled, therefore it is often necessary to repeat the treatment at 7 day intervals.
topical tip
Take cuttings of tender bedding plants such as heliotrope, verbenas and fuchsias placing prepared stems into small pots of Levington Seed & Cutting or Multi-Purpose Compost. Once they have rooted, pot up individually in Levington Outdoor Container Compost with Insect Control to give long-term protection against greenfly and other insect pests.
 ALWAYS READ THE LABEL. USE PESTICIDES SAFELY
BugClear™ and BugClear Gun!™ contain bifenthrin. FungusClear™ and FungusClear Gun!™ contain penconazole. RoundupGC, Roundup Ultra 3000, Roundup Tough Weedkiller Ready to Use and Tumbleweed Original Extra Strong Gel contain glyphosate. Roseclear® 2 contains bupirimate, pirimicarb and triforine. RoseClear® Gun!™ contains bifenthrin and flutriafol. SlugClear™ Mini Pellets contain metaldehyde. Spotless® contains carbendazim. Verdone® Extra contains fluroxypyr, clopyralid and MCPA. Weedol® contains diquat and paraquat. Weedol® Gun!™ contains diquat.
®, ™, Miracle-Gro, and Scotts are trade marks of The Scotts Company or its affiliates. Roundup is the registered Trade Mark of Monsanto Company.
GARDENING INFORMATION FROM The Scotts Company (UK) Limited
WRITTEN BY JOHN CLOWES MAIN INDEX - GO SHOPPING
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