Search - Articles

perennials and bedding plantsCollect seed from any flowers you fancy propagatingTrap earwigs among dahlias with upside-down pots stuffed with straw and balanced on canesPick leaves off plants affected by rose blackspotTrim conifer hedges and evergreen hedges

Pick plums as they ripenEase onions from the soil with a fork to prepare them for harvestingFinish pruning trained forms of apple trees like cordons, espaliers and fansWater crops regularly, especially during hot weatherLift marrows

Plant prepared hyacinth bulbs in special hyacinth vases (available at garden centres) or in pots of bulb fibreSow parsley in modular traysWater crops in growing bags and potsOpen vents each day, but close them at night if the weather turns cold

Deadhead border plants, unless you want to collect their seedsSpray gladioli to prevent thrips damage to leaves and flowersPick herbs and everlasting flowers for dryingBuy or build compost bins to help recycle all your kitchen and garden wasteCollect seeds

Rake autumn leaves from lawns and pick them out of bordersPlant new climbers and shrubs into soil that's well dug over and enriched with compost Spray Michaelmas daisies with fungicide to prevent mildewCut down annuals when they've faded, adding them

Pick ripe apples and store the best in fruit cratesDig up strawberry runners and pot them upNet autumn raspberries and blackberries to protect them from birdsLift and dry maincrop potatoes and store in paper sacks in a cool, dark placePot up a few

Continue picking sweetcorn, beans and marrows Prune out fruited blackberry stems and tie in new onesSave seeds from favourite bean varieties to plant next springHarvest and store apples, wrapping them in newspaper for storageLift and store onions

hyacinthsPick remaining outdoor green tomatoes and lay out on staging to ripen Pay close attention to ventilation now, shutting vents on cool nightsWash off greenhouse shading paintWater dormant cyclamen houseplants to encourage them back into growth

Sow green manure crops such as field beans and grazing ryePlant garlic and autumn onion setsCover endive to blanch the leavesDig up and pot up roots of chicory for winter forcingPick apples and pears before the wind blows them downFinish pruning blackberries

them tightly each eveningBring dormant cyclamen in pots back into growth by wateringClear out old crops and growing bags, adding material to the compost heapStop watering pots of begonia, gloxinia, achimene, gloriosa, eucomis and other summer bulbsPick