Autumn Gardening Tips
General garden tasks
Autumn is the season for some general gardening housekeeping. In September trim your hedges. Trim boxwood plants and treat with Topbuxus. Feed your lawn, raise the height of the cut and edge the borders. Remove leaves from the lawn. Save all the leaves you rake up to make leaf mould. This is gold for your garden improving the soil and feeding your plants. Cut back herbaceous plants as necessary. Stake and tie plants that may need support over the winter months. Apply organic matter such as farmyard manure to vegetable beds. This will rot down over the winter leaving the soil rich in nutrients for spring planting. Green manures can also be sown to keep weeds down and add organic material to the soil. Apply weedkiller where necessary to keep drives and patios weed free until spring. Treat for moss on drives and patios. A small amount of moss over the autumn can multiply rapidly over the winter so prevention is the best method.
Feed your lawn
Feed your lawn this autumn and you will have less work in removing moss next spring.
Every lawn needs a breakfast, lunch and dinner during the growing season to keep it healthy and strong, with breakfast in spring, lunch in Summer and dinner in Autumn. Feeding your lawn now with Mo Bacter will reduce moss establishing and leave your grass healthy and strong going into the winter months. Raise the height of the cut at this time of year also and edge the borders.
Plant Spring flowering bulbs
Autumn is the season for planting spring flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. These are super easy to sow, bring an abundance of colour to gardens every year and are great value for money. And if that wasn’t enough, they are equally at home in the garden or in pots. So, call into your nearest Homeland garden centre today to get the pick of the bunch before they sell out.
Plant hedging
This is a super time of the year to plant hedging with soil temperatures and moisture levels ideal to allow the plants to establish before the winter and giving them a full growing season next year. Varieties available include Cherry laurel, Portuguese laurel, Eleagnus, Escallonia and Griselinia to name a few. Choosing the right variety for your needs and location can seem daunting so call into your nearest Homeland garden centre for the best advice on choosing the right variety and planting method.
Plant colour for the autumn and winter
The glorious colours of summer made be fading but there is an abundance of colour available to brighten pots and containers as well as in the garden for Autumn and Winter. Hardy evergreens such as Boxwood, Leucothe, Euonymous offer all year round colour. For berries choose Checkerberries, Pernettya and Skimmia, and for flowers there are winter hardy violas and pansies, cyclamen and winter/spring heathers. Remember to add spring flowering bulbs when planting up winter pots to bring even more colour come the spring.
Treat moss on drives and patios.
A small amount of moss left over the autumn will multiply rapidly over the winter on drives and patios. Treat with Homeland Tarmac and Algae Cleaner. This can be used on most hard surfaces including tarmac drives, stone walls, paving and roofs. Application is by sprayer or watering can, with two separate application rates depending on the amount of moss present. This will work over a few days. For areas where moss coverage was light there in no need to sweep. For areas where there is a lot of moss sweep this away. If the moss is particularly problematic a second application may be necessary.
