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October

October can be a good time for the garden, or more realistically one small part of the garden, to be taken to pieces and replanted for the coming year, dividing and moving existing plants around and putting in some new plants to extend the season of interest.

If you would like some more autumn colour then look about in garden centres for any that catch your eye and will fit the space available. Some larger shrubs that colour well include Amelanchier larmarckii, Cercidiphyllum japonicum (which also smells of toffee apples), Euonymus alatus or Cornus kousa var. chinensis.

There is still time to plant out most spring flowering bubs, as early in October as possible but leave tulips until November or even December. Crocus do very well in half or shallow pots, planted close together, and will look good earlier than in the border if you can keep them in a cold frame or greenhouse. Early varieties include Blue Pearl, Cream Beauty, Ladykiller and Snowbunting. Small Iris such as the pale blue Katharine Hodgkin or the really dark George also do well in small pots and you get to admire the lovely markings close up. Keep fed and watered after flowering, allow the foliage to die down and then next September plant out in the garden for future flowers.

Move pots of more tender plants into shelter before any frosts – this could be a cold frame, greenhouse or closed porch, even the shelter of a south facing wall will give many a good chance of survival if the winter is reasonably mild.

If you have a small sunny area which is near a path used in the winter months then buy some violas or primulas for late winter/early spring colour. Fork over the area, mix in a bucket or two of compost and then plant out, spacing quite close together, about 6” apart, in bold groups for early flowers next year.

When plants are shutting down for the winter they normally take their nutrients down to the roots – this makes it a very good time to spray or paint some more persistent weeds like ground elder, bindweed or horsetail with a systemic weedkiller containing gyphosate. These weeds are unlikely to be killed with just one or two applications but persistence over a couple of years should work. It can help if you defoliate the weeds during the summer to make them weaker before applying the weedkiller.

CAF