Aerate your lawn now before winter sets in. Either use a lawn aerator or simply insert a garden fork at regular intervals and lean it back slightly to let air in. Continue to clear fallen leaves off the lawn to keep it healthy using a light rake. Set your lawn mower to a higher cut-height for winter. Prevent containers becoming waterlogged by raising them off the ground for the winter using bricks or ‘pot feet’. Encourage hungry birds into your garden by investing in bird baths and bird feeders. Our feathered friends will keep garden pest numbers down and bring joy on a bleak winter’s day.
Leave the seedheads of herbaceous plants, such as fennel, Verbena bonariensis, teasel and echinacea, for birds such as house sparrows and goldfinches Plant up a pot of nectar-rich crocuses now to feed hungry queen bumblebees in spring. Use the prunings and clippings of shrubby material to create a dry wildlife stack, out of the way, such as behind a shed or at the back of a border. Any clippings can be used and the pile added to throughout autumn.
Keep bird feeders stocked up with peanuts, oil-rich seeds and suet products to help keep birds fed throughout winter. Protect roses from wind-rock by pruning them by one-third to half their height. This will stop them swaying in strong wind and prevent roots coming loose in the soil.
Remove fallen leaves from around the base of any rose bushes which suffered from blackspot or rust this summer, to reduce the chance of reinfection next year. Lift parsnips after the first frosts, when their flavour will have sweetened. Keep planting onion, shallot, and garlic sets. Spread well rotted farm manure across the surface of your vegetable beds to rot down over winter.
Stake top-heavy brassica and leafy green plants. Draw up some soil around the base of their stem to prevent wind from rocking the plant and causing damage to the roots. Tidy up your strawberry plants, cutting off any dead leaves and removing runners. Prune apple and pear trees anytime between now and February. Don’t prune your plum trees now as they will be susceptible to the silver leaf fungus – wait until midsummer.
Leave a Reply