The season of mists……
By Rachael Leverton
..and mellow fruitfulness, states the first line of the famous Keats poem. There is something rather lovely about autumn. The days are cooler but often sunny, yet the ground is more moist and so easier to dig. It’s the perfect time of year for gardening. It’s tempting to tidy up all the browning plant stems but try not to get carried away. Leave some standing because they provide important habitats for wildlife. I do harvest a few seedheads each year: poppies, nigella, and alliums are my favourites. I cut them, leaving their long stems intact and put the heads inside a paper bag, then hang the bunches inside to dry. The ripe seeds fall into the bag and can be labelled and kept for sow-ing next year’s free plants! The decorative heads look nice in a vase too.
My neighbour (who is retired) makes fabulous leaf mould in meshed cages he’s constructed himself. I take a ‘busy mum’ approach to fall-en leaves. I run them over with a mower then rake the resulting confetti off my lawn into the flower beds and borders and let them rot natu-rally. They soon break down and are incorpo-rated into the soil by worms. I still hanker after my own leaf mould crates though.
If you planted any perennials a few years ago they might need to be divided. Take a look at your plants. If they are dying off in the middle but have good growth around the edges, it’s time to lift and divide. Dig up the root ball of the plant, brush and pull off ex-cess soil and set on to a plastic ground sheet. Pull (or use a garden fork to prise) apart the root ball into three or four clumps, each with a section of healthy shoots and roots. Re-plant the ’new’ plants elsewhere in the garden or try swapping plants with friends. Don’t forget to keep them well-watered until they have become established.
If you feel that your garden needs a little more colour heading into winter add a couple of dogwood shrubs into your borders. There are striking red and yellow varieties available. You can also plant sedum, Japanese anemones (Liriope) and Michaelmas daises (Aster). These flower well into late autumn and early winter.
Finally, a little planning for next year goes a long way. October is the perfect time to plant daffodil, crocus, hyacinth and allium bulbs for next spring.
Happy gardening,