AUTUMN GARDENING
The wet and windy summer has given our gardens a double whammy of the worst sort: battered by weather yet with maximum growth stimulated by the combination of damp and warmth. While it’s tempting to restore order with a strimmer or weedkiller, hold fire and be selective: there’s a good chance that autumn will bring some spells of glorious sunshine, which happens more often than not once the school holidays have ended!
Start by making an honest assessment of your weather-battered garden. Sun and drought-loving annuals and perennials are looking pretty fed up, if not actually dead. Annuals might be restored for a last burst of bloom, by trimming back leggy growth, deadheading, and perking up with a liquid feed. If beyond hope, hoick on to the compost heap and replace with spring bedding – it will benefit from having lots of time to get established - or plant late-blooming perennials to finish the season with a fanfare of brilliant blooms. Autumns’ colours are loud and bold, like vivid orange and yellow Heleniums; glowing pink Japanese anemones and Schizostylis; golden Rudbeckia and purple Echinacea.
Weather-tolerant border plants are looking pretty good in the main, but oh, the weeds! Damp soil made hoeing well-nigh impossible so both annual and perennial pests have flourished. Bindweed has been the worst I’ve ever known, not only making stealth invasions upwards, but sending shoots metres long across the ground. At least moist soil does make it easier to pull or dig out complete roots of perennial weeds – vital as even the tiniest bit left will live to grow another year. Although I avoid using chemicals wherever possible, careful and minimal use of systemic weedkiller gel can be the only solution amongst garden plants. Autumn is the ideal time to apply onto weed foliage from where it will be drawn down to the roots – but keep well away from plants. I cover treated growth with clear polythene to keep it in isolation and away from wildlife.
Seasonal jobs
- Replant patio containers with hardy evergreens to give colour and interest right through the winter. Good plants include skimmias, euonymus, heathers and variegated ivies, plus bulbs for early spring colour such as crocus and narcissus.
- Rejuvenate herbaceous perennials (and make more plants for free) by lifting, dividing and replanting those which have formed large clumps. Tackle spring and early summer-flowering plants now; do later blooming ones and ornamental grasses in spring.
- Don’t set fire to piles of prunings: hedgehogs can’t tell the difference between a potential bonfire and a tailor-made home. Dismantle the heap and rebuild elsewhere before lighting. The same goes for November 5th bonfires.
- Sow sweet peas under cover in deep pots or Roottrainers (toilet or kitchen roll inners work well too). Germinate in warmth, then overwinter in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame.
- Sow mixed salad leaves in windowboxes and containers to stand in sheltered spots to harvest into winter.
Sue Fisher is a garden designer and writer based on the Bere Peninsula. Tel 01822 841895. Email: suefisher@talktalk.net Website: www.suefishergardens.co.uk