Gardening in October

The Patio Tubs that have provided a colourful display all summer are now looking tired and overgrown so it’s time to replant them with Autumn and Winter colour. Once the summer plants and compost have been removed it is a good idea to disinfect the pots with Jeyes Fluid or Citrox. Arrange the pots so that you get the maximum pleasure from them during the colder months so putting them near the front or back doors allows you to enjoy winter flowering perfumed shrubs like Daphne Eternal Fragrance, and Hamamelis, Witch Hazel, every day to welcome you home. If you site pots with colourful berries like Callicarpa, purple glossy berries, or Cotoneasters, bright red berries, in view of the windows you can see the wild birds they attract as well.

Here are some suggestions for different plant associations to give colourful pots with flowers and evergreen foliage for autumn and winter with the surprise of bulbs next spring.

Wallflower Tom Thumb, a dwarf variety, or Erysimum Variegatum, with variegated foliage, provide good foils for the bright colours of Winter Flowering Pansies.  These are now available in an amazing array of colour. There are the soft pastel shades of the antique varieties, the strong colours of the plain faced types or the dramatic contrasts of the blotched face Pansies. In the same tub, plant miniature daffodils Tete a Tete or Little Oliver for the surprise in February. Plant a tub with blue garden hyacinths and white Winter Pansies, a classic combination, or Miniature Cyclamen and Dwarf Tulip Dreamboat Pink. A mixed planting of Artemesia Silver Mound, Lonicera Baggesons Gold, Lamium White Nancy and Sedum Aureum gives a tub of silver and gold winter foliage while a large bushy Chrysanthemum with dozens of small flowers will give lots of colour until the hard frosts in December. It can then be planted in the herbaceous border as an autumn flowering perennial. You can achieve a dramatic effect in a large tub by layer planting tall daffodils like Carlton or Mount Hood at a low cost. Put 10cms of Compost or Bulb fibre in the tub then a layer of Daffodils. Repeat this twice more increasing the number of Daffodils in layers 2 and 3. All the Daffodils will grow to the same height and flower at the same time. Plant upright Violas with blue or purple Crocus not yellow because the birds vandalise the flowers. Does anyone know why they pick on yellow Crocus? A tub planted now with Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme will give fresh herbs for stuffing the Turkey and throughout the winter.

I know it is time to tidy the garden but consider some of our wild animal friends, birds and insects that rely on us to provide safe warm places to stay for the winter. Leave some piles of raked leaves for small mammals like hedgehogs and mice to sleep. Ground feeding birds will also rest here together with many insects and other invertebrates. Do check the bonfire before you light it, someone may be squatting. I don’t prune any plants with seed heads or berries at this time of year. I hang feeders to attract finches, tits and sparrows. Blackbirds, thrushes, and wrens like feeding on the ground while robins and greenfinches like to eat at table. It is also time to put up bird houses now to attract tenants’ next spring. Have you thought of a tit box with a radio camera. It’s like having spring watch for two months on the kitchen tele. Be prepared though for joys and dramas. I never prune ivy in summer because the flowers are a late source of nectar for butterflies and bees. We counted 24 Red Admirals and a Painted Lady on the garden centre hedge last week. The larvae of the Holly Blue butterfly feeds only on ivy at this time of year. Leave windfall apples for ground feeding birds and small mammals. If you have not emptied your compost bin leave it undisturbed you may find a grass snake or two or seventeen as I did.

Poor old Moley he means no harm so why try to eradicate him with traps when he’s mining for worms. He may disturb a few roots of established plants but does not eat them so just stamp about to firm them down again and send him off in another direction and collect any molehills its excellent seed compost. Lastly everyone needs water. Keep the pond clear of ice and the bird baths topped up.   

Pumpkins and Gourds make a colourful autumn display. Grow them on the veg patch with the courgettes and arrange on the front doorstep with a cauldron planted with bright orange Pansies, a copper red Chrysanthemum, coloured autumn leaves and a besom broom to welcome visitors and the postman.