With September just a few weeks away, it is no harm to spend a few hours tidying up your garden to give you a head start when spring arrives.
Autumn is your opportunity to get rid of dead vegetation left over from the summer, tidy your borders, clear out your gutters, and more. This season is all about picking up and packing down before the arrival of winter. Here are our top ten tips to make the most of your autumn garden.
1 Give greenhouse windows a thorough clean
As the nights draw in, make the most of the available light by scrubbing shade paint from your greenhouse windows. This lets more of the sun’s rays through the glass, helping winter temperatures to climb that little bit higher, saving you money on heating.
A bucket of hot water and some elbow grease is all it takes to bring the glass up sparkling clean.
2. Autumn clean
Before overwintering tender plants, remove everything from your greenhouse, sweep out plant debris, and disinfect all paths and staging, including the inside of the glass. A hot solution of garden disinfectant or Jeyes Fluid will help to prevent pests and fungal infection.
Ventilate your greenhouse over the next couple of days to dry it thoroughly. Also clean pots and seed trays in preparation for spring sowing and planting. Sowing winter leaves and veg? Here are 10 vegetables to grow over winter.
3. Tidy up borders
To ensure a vibrant display next spring, dig up annuals and plant your beds with pansies, bellis daisies and wallflowers. Cut back faded perennials to 5 cm above ground level, but don't be too tidy – attractive seed heads are great for insects, look wonderful covered in autumn dew, and provide handsome winter silhouettes.
Once your borders are clean and tidy, spread a thick layer of compost, bark chips or well–rotted manure. Don't worry about digging it in – let the worms do the hard work for you.
4. Lawn enforcement
Remove thatch and moss using a spring-tined rake and add it to the compost heap. If you have large amounts of moss, you may want to use a moss killer on your lawn first. Brush in a sandy top dressing afterwards, followed by an application of autumn lawn feed to prepare your lawn for the cold winter months.
