Autumn garden maintenance

Sep 4, 2023

Summer is over and it’s time to ready your garden for autumn. If you’ve been following my blog posts throughout the year you will have read a lot of tips already that will have seen you through winter, spring and summer  but here we will be focusing on specific jobs for this time of the year and throughout the season of autumn. 

If you’ve been in your outside space consistently throughout that time then you probably don’t have too much to do, however there are still many jobs that can make your garden flourish and perform better than ever before and most of them are so simple you will wonder why you haven’t always been doing them!

 

Large family garden
Tidying up after summer

The big tidy up after summer consists mainly of clearing away dead and dying foliage and potentially digging up and storing any plants that need winter protection. There is an easy way to organise your work and that is to start with your garden storage and vegetable patch first, move onto perennials and then tackle the rest

If you have a greenhouse or potting shed, tackle this area first as then you can easily store anything that you need to straightaway as you are clearing your garden. Clear away old, dead and dying veg, salad and fruit plants, take away all equipment (pots, boxes etc) and compost anything that hasn’t been attacked by disease or pests. When clearing veg, cut bean or pea shoots and leave the roots in the soil over winter to improve the soil for next year. To go a little further with your soil, consider using green manure which helps to reduce weed growth, protect soil erosion and improve nutrient balance in the soil. You can dig over the growth in spring and this will return nutrients from the plants back into the soil ready for your new vegetables to be grown.

If possible take everything out of your garden building or storage area and sweep it then clean it down with antibacterial cleaning products and allow it to dry fully. Once this task is complete you can begin to take down any support structures or netting you have used over spring and summer in the rest of your garden to support your plants, and either dispose of it, or ideally clean it and store it away ready for next year.
Your next job is to move to your gardens’ borders and trim back or pull up any dead or dying bulb shoots or anything that has broken and looks untidy in your borders. This is also a great time to clear away any weeds and stray leaves from the soil. Remember some of your perennials have attractive seed heads that offer wonderful architectural structure and interest in your winter garden, so it’s not necessary to remove everything. My advice is to start with clearing away the weeds from the soil level, then take away anything straggly and untidy looking, then take a step back and see what else needs tidying up. Some perennials that I like to leave over the winter are sedums, ornamental grasses, rudbeckia and also, to offer some frost protection to the new flower heads, I also leave lavender and hydrangea and cut them back in spring. Once your borders are clear, spread compost or well rotted manure.
Large family garden

Autumn is the season whereby you will do your final work on your lawn for the year. This should entail scarifying (raking) the lawn to remove old dead grass and moss, aerating (puncturing with lots of holes to help air flow as well as dispersion of nutrients and strong roots), your last mow, edging and feeding. You can also spread lawn seed at this time and do some top dressing to level off a lawn that is uneven. Top dressing entails the spreading of compost and sand across your lawn with a rake and improves root strength as well as the overall aesthetic of your lawn.

Pruning and overwintering
Gooseberries and blackcurrants can be thinned in autumn by removing the stems that have fruited this year. Raspberries can be cut down to the ground and redcurrants can be cut down to a pair of buds up from the ground.
As discussed earlier in the post there are some perennials that you may want to leave for architectural interest over winter, however, this is the time to prune anything such as peonies, delphiniums, lupins, phlox and asters. Use your secateurs to cut them down to the base of the plant and compost the foliage. Mulching these areas will help protect the crown of these plants from frost damage, but if you feel you need additional protection for some of your plants such as dahlias, geraniums, cannas and tuberous begonias, you can choose to dig them up and store them in a dry, dark and cool area over the winter months. To do this successfully;
* cut the stems of the plant to 5cm above the base of the plant
* use a fork to gently coax the roots out of the soil, being careful to not break any part
* remove soil and debris
* store in a box of sand in your greenhouse or conservatory ready for next spring!

I hope these tips will help you to keep your garden in great condition ready for next spring. Once again, consistent work in the garden really pays off year on year and watching the seasons transformations closely is so rewarding!