Summer’s Fall

After the long wait of winter and the trials of spring, worrying about when to sow seeds or put out that delicate ornamental around the fickle weather, summer is hopefully a relatively peaceful time in the garden. With a bit of luck, the planning over winter and busy spring preparation has led to abundantly blooming flowers and vegetables growing vigorously ready for autumn harvest.

A spot of weeding, fertilising and watering to help plants, indoor or outdoor, through any summer heat generally keeps things ticking over as you can enjoy the fruits of your labour, sometimes quite literally! Some summer pruning is also advisable; cutting back fresh summer growth can mean for bigger yields from fruit trees and bushes, mean for better displays from ornamentals and keep them from taking over the whole garden.

All good must things must unfortunately come to an end though and whilst autumn can be a beautiful time of year, with deciduous trees turning gold and orange and lots of tasty crops such as potatoes being ready for harvest, there is some more work required to put the garden back to bed for winter. As well as some further pruning to keep plants in check, it’s a good time to add a layer of mulch, dead organic matter, as a top dressing to the soil. This can be applied generally as a feed to soil and specifically around plants that will be spending the winter outside such as kale, in addition to trees and shrubs.

For those who like to live dangerously, you can take a gamble and try sowing some veggies such as broad beans to over winter and grow on in the spring. It is prudent to cover any such seedlings or other tender plants with fleece to protect against frost, and for any very tender plants, to bring them safely indoors by October.

Not all gardeners have gardens of course and for those of us with houseplants much less maintenance is required as the seasons change but a light pruning back of any vigorous houseplants and moving any sun loving plants into a south facing window to make the most of the shorter days definitely helps many plants along.

There are also fun gifts from nature that we can all enjoy in the autumn wherever we live, as many plants offer their bounty in the form of autumn fruit. Brambles abound with juicy blackberries that make for a delicious crumble and rowan berries can make for an excellent tart addition to many a meal.

In the next post we will look at what to do in the garden as autumn turns to winter, we harvest the last of the tasty morsels and put the garden to bed for the season. Until then, as always, happy gardening!