Woodlands Nurseries
October Tips

October

Flowers

• Give hedges a final trim to neaten their appearance for the winter
• Dig up gladioli corms to store until the spring
• Plant out spring bedding and bulbs
• Sow sweet peas in posts and overwinter in a cold frame
• Collect seeds, lay them out to dry and store in envelopes
• Take tender plants into the greenhouse before it turns cold
• Empty pots of faded summer bedding and compost them
• Prune climbing roses, cutting out old stems and training in new shoots
• Cut back perennials that have now died down

In the greenhouse

• Check greenhouse heaters are in working order
• Moe tender aquatic plants and perennials from summer displays, such as fuchsias and bring into the greenhouse
• Start watering pots of dormant cyclamens saved from last Christmas
• Water crops in pots and grow bags more sparingly, but continue to give a weekly feed
• Look out for pests and treat any that you find
• Ventilate on warm days, but close vents and doors every evening to trap heat
• Bring pots of cannas, agapanthus, eucomis and other bulbs under cover before the weather starts to tuner cold
• Stop watering gloxinias, begonias and achimenes to let their leaves die down completely before storing tubers in dry compost for winter

Fruit and vegetables

• Cover productive herbs, such as basil and parsley, with cloches, or bring potted ones under cover
• Continue to harvest pears, apples, plums, autumn raspberries and other fruits
• Stake tall Brussels sprouts to provide support and to stop them blowing over
• Cut off full trusses of outdoor tomatoes before there’re hit by frost, lay them on greenhouse staging to ripen under cover
• Wrap grease bands around the trunks of trees to trap the crawling female winter moth
• Save money on bean seeds by collecting seeds from your favourite plants. Leave a few pods to swell and ripen before picking, allow these to dry, remove the seeds, then store in a cool, dry place
• Plant out spring cabbages

Around the garden

• Cut seed heads for indoor display
• Buy roses, shrubs, fruit trees and hedging to plant over the coming months
• Bring pots of tender perennials into the greenhouse
• Buy bulbs for autumn planting
• Spread netting over ponds or water features to keep leaves out
• Lay new turf and re-sow bare patches
• Mow lawns and trim hedges prior to the winter
• Regularly clear up fallen autumn leaves