Garden Planning & Designing

Autumn Gardens

Autumn tidy up

Autumn is our favourite time of year and although it can feel like the garden is slowing down, we believe that there are plenty of useful tasks to do, clearing up after this year and preparing for next. We suggest that if the weather is still mild you can keep cutting your lawn until November and can use any leaves you remove to make a nutritious mulch for next year. You can also make the most of the plants already in your garden by collecting seeds and digging and dividing clumped up perennials and rhubarb. Our theory is that if you keep everything clean and tidy now, from maintaining your mower, to cleaning your tools and your greenhouse, you’ll be perfectly prepared for spring.

Planting for winter and spring

A lot of people forget about their garden this time of year and stop visiting the garden centre or even stop going outside. However, we believe that there’s no reason that you can’t enjoy colour and structure in winter with a few well-chosen trees and plants. As everything dies back you can see the bare bones of your garden and appreciate where you need colour, structure and interest. It’s a great time to plant a fruit tree for height and hopefully delicious fruit next year or to plan a bright border for colour now and throughout the winter. You could also try ‘lasagna planting’ your bulbs for planters packed full of flowers in spring. You’ll definitely appreciate the effort you put in now all next year.

A taste of autumn

We believe that autumn is the time to celebrate all the hard work you’ve put into the garden this year and to enjoy picking the fruits of your labours. Although it’s difficult to know exactly when your harvest will be ready, we suggest that you start planning whether you’ll be pickling, jamming or preserving it now, so you can pick your crops the moment they’re perfect. With fruit like apples you can carry them over into the winter if they’re stored correctly thereby enjoy crunchier coxs for longer. However, as well as harvesting you can also keep planting, sowing onion sets and autumn garlic as well as fruit canes and trees to keep your garden working throughout the winter.



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