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Fruit and veg

Flowers

House plants

  • Feed house plants once a week with liquid fertiliser, continuing through to autumn
  • Repot moth orchids after flowering if they look like they’re about to burst out of their pot
  • Water house plants less frequently and move them off particularly cold windowsills at night. Find out how to water your house plants 
  • Plant hippeastrum (amaryllis) bulbs in pots for spectacular flowers over the festive season
  • Bring any house plants that you moved outside over summer back indoors, before temperatures start to drop
  • Repot any house plants that have become top heavy or pot bound into larger containers
  • Maximise the amount of light your house plants receive by moving to brighter spots, or choose indoor plants for low light
  • Some house plants, like snake plants, are particularly prone to collecting dust on their leaves. So be sure to give these a wipe regularly
  • Take leaf cuttings from house plants, including African violets, begonias and Cape primroses
  • Take leaf cuttings from succulents, such as echeverias, crassula and sedums
  • Check your house plants for pests like aphids, scale insects, thrips and mealybugs
  • Take large-leaved house plants into the garden and hose them down to clean off accumulated dust

For more house plant advice and inspiration visit our Growing and caring for house plants page.

Greenhouse

  • Clean out the greenhouse to get rid of debris that can harbour overwintering pests and diseases
  • Wash greenhouse glazing to let in as much of the weaker autumn daylight as possible
  • Bring potted tropical plants inside, including bananas, pineapple lilies (eucomis) and brugmansias
  • Plant hippeastrum (amaryllis) bulbs in pots on a warm windowsill for flowers by Christmas
  • Move potted citrus plants and fuchsias inside over winter, keeping them cool but frost free
  • Sow quick-growing microgreens for nutrient-rich pickings in just a few weeks, here's 10 microgreens to grow
  • Line greenhouse glazing with bubble insulation, as night-time temperatures start to drop
  • Keep indoor azaleas constantly moist, ideally using rainwater
  • Pot up the roots of lily-of-the-valley to provide fragrant winter flowers indoors
  • Water plants more sparingly as conditions turn cooler and the days get shorter
  • Sow sweet peas in deep pots for early flowers next summer
  • Force narcissus bulbs for fragrant indoor blooms in about 10 weeks
  • Spread out harvested onions and garlic on greenhouse staging to dry thoroughly before storing
  • Inspect plants you bring into the greenhouse over winter for any pests and diseases
  • Attach guttering to the greenhouse and install a water butt, to make good use of autumn rain
  • Clear fallen leaves from greenhouse guttering to ensure water butts fill up
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Garden maintenance

  • Rake up fallen leaves from lawns, borders, driveways and paths, and store in a leaf mould bin to rot down into leaf mould
  • Build a log pile at the back of a border for wildlife to shelter in 
  • Check that your shed is secure and waterproof, so you can safely store tools and patio furniture in it over winter
  • Apply an autumn lawn feed to revive the grass after the rigours of summer
  • Give your pond some autumn maintenance, including removing barley straw, placed in the pond in spring to discourage algae, once it has turned black
  • Empty ceramic and glazed pots that aren't frost proof and store in a shed over winter
  • Spike compacted lawns and brush grit into the holes to improve drainage
  • Fork up perennial weeds, including horsetail or bindweed, removing every bit of root
  • Cut autumn-fruiting raspberries down to the ground after harvesting
  • Collect up hoses and drip-feed systems and store indoors over winter, so they don't freeze and split
  • Clean out and disinfect bird boxes
  • Gather up canes and plant supports that are no longer in use, and store indoors over winter
  • Go on regular snail hunts, especially on damp evenings, to reduce overwintering populations
£19.99 £29.97 Supplied as 3 x 9cm pots

One of the more unusual varieties, Patty’s Plum is noted for its blousy, pinkish purple ruffled blooms that look like antique silk and its coarse, bristly leaves that provide a great backdrop for other plants. A real low maintenance, easy plant to grow, these poppies make a bold statement when planted as a group or as individual specimens.

Offer Ends:
from £19.99 Supplied as 14cm potted plants

Perfect for both sunlit spots and partial shade, this perennial thrives anywhere in the garden but particularly shines in the dappled shade of trees and shrubs. Suitable for containers and borders, it has a compact habit with attractive palm-shaped leaves which remain green throughout the year. The long-lasting spring blooms are also an essential source of nectar for early-emerging bees.

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from £9.99 Supplied as plug plants

This mix of five super-bright Thunbergia alata Sunny Susy plants will provide months of vibrant colour through summer and into autumn. Easy to grow, thunbergia keeps producing flowers, even if summer weather is not especially hot, with no need for deadheading.

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