Autumn is here and days are getting shorter.  In the hardy border some of the perennials are dying down now and will need to be cut back.  The clippings can go straight on to the compost heap together with the old bedding plants that have passed their best.  Add a little Garotta to the compost to speed up the rotting process.  October is probably the best month to plant out the spring flowering bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, crocus and hyacinths.  For pots, tubs and window boxes dwarf narcissi, such as Tete-a-tete, dwarf tulips and crocus are ideal and for indoor bowls use hyacinths, narcissus Paperwhite or Actaea.  In the garden centre will be found a good selection of small bulbs such as snowdrops, ixias, scillas, winter aconites, irises and chionodoxa and these can be used in sink gardens, rock gardens and small garden plantings.  Autumn bedding plants are on sale now ready for planting until December.  Pansies, primroses, polyanthus and small cyclamen can be used in the garden as well as in hanging baskets and containers.  When planting hanging baskets and window boxes use a few trailing plants such as nepeta and dwarf ivies to add interest.
Wallflowers, forget-me-nots, sweet williams and Canterbury bells can also be planted now ready for flowering next spring.
In the vegetable garden it is time to dig up potatoes and harvest root crops.  Time now to clear away plants which have finished and get as much as possible on to the compost heap.  Winter digging can start adding farmyard manure as you go.  Where rootcrops such as carrots and parsnips are to be grown next year, no manure must be used.  Early onion sets can be planted any time.  There is still time to plant spring cabbages and to make a  quick late sowing of lettuce and radish.  Asters (Michaelmas daisies), rudbeckias and sedums should be in flower in the border this month.  As pestemmons finish flowering remove old flowers but do not cut the plants down until next spring.  Ornamental grasses are best not cut down as the spikes look good when frosted in winter.  The lawns will need to be aerated and scarified and an autumn turf fertilizer put down to fortify the grass for the winter.  After the final cut the lawn mower will need to be serviced ready for next spring.  The greenhouse should be thoroughly cleaned and whilst empty should be fumigated with a sulphur candle to kill all the bugs.  Geraniums, pelargoniums, tender fuchsia and the like should be lifted and taken inside so that they are not damaged by frost.  Roses should be given a final spray of fungicide .  Hedges will need a final trim and lavenders can be given a light trim.
Perennial  weeds such as ground elder should be sprayed with a weedkiller (glyphosate, resolva or S.B.K) just before they start to die down.  Borders will need to be mulched to help protect roots from frost damage in winter.  Some shrubs can be pruned at this time of the year and there is still time to take cuttings of some plants.  Autumn colour should be at its best this month so enjoy seeing the leaves of the acers, liquidamber, blueberries and euonymus alatus.
Get ready for the winter…last year we had the first snow in October!
Terry Simmonds