Gardening Advice
15 Essential Garden Tips for October
As autumn’s vibrant hues of gold, red, and orange take over, it’s time to wrap up your summer gardening tasks, prepare for the colder months, and start planning for the coming spring. To help you get your garden in top shape, here are 15 essential gardening tips for October.
1. Tidy Up Herbaceous Perennials
As herbaceous perennials start to die back, cut them down, but leave a few hollow flower stems standing. These provide valuable shelter for overwintering insects and help support garden biodiversity.
2. Prune Roses
Now is the perfect time to prune climbing roses and reduce shrub roses by half. This will help protect them from potential damage caused by strong winter winds, ensuring healthy growth come spring.
Browse our collection of pruning tools to keep your plants in top shape.
3. Lift and Divide Perennials
October is the ideal time to lift and divide perennials such as geraniums, salvias, daylilies, and agapanthus. You can tease the clumps apart by hand or use two garden forks back-to-back to lever them apart. For stubborn, woody roots, use a sharp knife or the edge of a spade to cut through them.
4. Prune Summer-Fruiting Raspberries
Prune your summer-fruiting raspberries by cutting down all the canes that fruited this year to ground level. Be sure to leave the new canes that will bear fruit next season intact.
5. Harvest the Last of Your Beans
If you still have French or runner beans in your garden, harvest the last pods this month. Cut the plants down to ground level but leave the roots in place. These will release nitrogen back into the soil, enriching it for next year’s crops.
Stock up on seeds from our vegetable growing section to prepare for next year.
6. Ripen Green Tomatoes Indoors
If frost is approaching and you have green tomatoes left on your plants, pick them and ripen them indoors. To speed up the ripening process, place the tomatoes in a paper bag with a banana. Check the bag regularly and remove any tomatoes that are starting to rot.
7. Plant Trees and Shrubs
October is a great time to plant new trees and shrubs. The soil is still warm from the summer, which helps the roots establish themselves before winter sets in. Come spring, your new trees and shrubs will be ready to flourish.
Discover our selection of trees and shrubs perfect for autumn planting.
8. Sow Hardy Peas
Sow hardy pea varieties like ‘Avola’ outdoors in October. Protect the seeds from mice by covering the soil with netting or layering prickly holly leaves over the ground. This simple trick keeps pests at bay while your peas take root.
Explore our range of vegetable seeds, including hardy peas.
9. Plant Spring Bulbs
Now is the time to plant spring bulbs like daffodils, irises, and crocuses. However, hold off on planting tulips until November, when the colder temperatures reduce the risk of tulip bulb diseases.
Visit our spring bulbs section for a vibrant spring display.
10. Add Winter Colour with Bedding Plants
Brighten up your garden for the colder months by planting winter bedding plants like cyclamen and violas. These hardy plants will provide beautiful pops of colour throughout the winter and help keep your garden looking lively.
Explore our winter bedding plant collection for more inspiration.
11. Maintain Your Lawn
October is the ideal time to give your lawn some attention. Aerate and scarify it to improve drainage and remove dead grass. Apply a low-nitrogen autumn feed to strengthen the grass for winter. If your lawn has any bare patches, now’s a good time to sow grass seed or lay turf to fix them.
Browse our lawn care products to help maintain a lush, green lawn all year round.
12. Lift Tender Bulbs
If you live in a colder region, lift bulbs like dahlias, begonias, and gladiolus before the first frost and store them in a dry place over the winter. In milder areas, you can leave the bulbs in the ground and simply cover them with a thick layer of mulch to protect them from frost.
13. Move Half-Hardy Plants Indoors
To protect your half-hardy plants from frost, move them to a frost-free spot such as a greenhouse or place them on a sunny windowsill indoors. This will help them survive the winter and be ready for replanting next spring.
14. Raise Pots Off the Ground
Ensure your outdoor potted plants don’t become waterlogged or freeze over winter by raising them on pot feet or bricks. This allows excess water to drain away, keeping the roots healthy.
15. Collect Fallen Leaves for Leaf Mould
Don’t let those fallen autumn leaves go to waste—collect them and turn them into leaf mould. If you have the space, pile the leaves in a corner of your garden. Alternatively, you can place them in black bin bags, poke a few holes in the bags, and store them out of sight. In one to two years, the leaves will break down into nutrient-rich leaf mould, which is a fantastic soil conditioner.
Visit Polhill Garden Centre for All Your Autumn Gardening Needs
October is a busy month for gardeners, and Polhill Garden Centre has everything you need to keep your garden thriving. Whether you’re planting spring bulbs, protecting tender plants, or looking for tools to tidy up your garden, we’ve got you covered.
If you need advice, don’t hesitate to ask our friendly staff or explore our gardening essentials online. Visit us today and see what’s in store!
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