October

October brings rain, wind and cloud, but often there's a spell of settled weather. Gardens can still be colourful with chrysanthemums, Michaelmas daisies and cyclamen, not forgetting berries and autumn foliage. It's not too late to plant something that will give you colour for years to come. You may have more fallen leaves than you know what to do with. Don't waste them - with help you can turn then into valuable compost.

ESSENTIAL JOBS CHECKLIST FOR OCTOBER
Mulch your border with homemade compost.
Plant bulbs in the garden.
Bring in tender perennials, trim and store in a frost-free place.
Start a new compost heap.
Compost summer bedding and plant up containers with bulbs and winter bedding.

Last Chance To…Sow a new lawn

Flower Garden
Continue to plant bulbs in the open garden. Enrich the soil in the planting hole with a sprinkling of  Bonemeal.
This is also a good time of year to plant new shrubs and perennials. The warmth in the soil will help them to get quickly established. Be generous with the planting mixture and be sure to water in well in dry weather.
At this time of year the amount of material suitable for composting multiplies alarmingly. Summer bedding, trimmings from perennials and fallen leaves will all rot down, so don't waste them. Use up all your existing homemade compost to mulch around established borders or to add to planting mixtures for new acquisitions. Then start a new compost heap. Always mix together the different materials - this helps decomposition. Whether you favour a purpose-made compost container or an open heap, you'll find that the addition of a biological compost maker will help you produce high quality compost easily and cheaply.  
October is a good time of year to move established evergreens and conifers. Get a friend to help and dig them up with the biggest root ball you can manage. Prepare the new planting site well with lots of your favourite planting mixture - make sure to include bonemeal to boost root formation. Then water in very well. You'll need to continue for several weeks until the plant becomes established.  Dig up dahlias as soon as frost blackens the foliage. Cut back the stems to about 10 cm (4 inches) and remove as much soil as possible before standing the plants upside-down for about a week to allow them to dry out. Store the tubers in boxes, covered with slightly damp peat. If you don't have a frost-free greenhouse or shed, you can keep the tubers in a spare bedroom or unheated porch.

Roses
If black spot or rust has been a problem try and pick off infected leaves as far as you can and dispose of them - don't put them on the compost heap. If they fall to the ground and blow about they will spread the infections next year. Send off for specialist catalogues and choose new varieties for next year.

Greenhouse
Check through all pots that have been growing in the greenhouse or that have been brought in from the garden. Destroy any vine weevil larvae that you find.
Stop watering tuberous begonias and allow the tops to die off. Then remove the tubers from the compost and store in a cool, dry place.
Wash shading off the windows and consider insulating your greenhouse with bubble wrap.
Bring late-flowering pot-grown chrysanthemums into the greenhouse for some late colour.

Lawn
Scarify established lawns with a rake, then aerate with a fork if you haven't done it already. There's still time to use Autumn Lawn Food.
New lawns can be laid or sown on well-prepared sites.

Containers
As well as planting containers with bulbs and spring bedding, consider planting a couple with small evergreen shrubs to give a bit of structure and green through the winter months. Euonymus, ivies and dwarf conifers are ideal.

Vegetable Garden
Finish picking tomatoes before the plants become diseased. You can hang up the whole plant to ripen green trusses, or alternatively pick the fruit and ripen it individually. Or you could always make some green tomato chutney!
Harvest carrots and potatoes, making sure the crops are clean and dry before you put them into storage. Marrows can be stored once their skins have been hardened in the sun.

Herb Garden
To ensure a supply of fresh mint during winter dig up some roots and plant them 5 cm (2 inches) deep in a seed tray in  Multi-Purpose Compost. Keep the tray in the greenhouse.
Clumps of chives can also be put into pots and brought into the greenhouse.

Fruit Garden
Prepare site for planting bare-rooted fruit trees and bushes. No fruit trees like poor drainage so if your soil is heavy add plenty of Silvaperl grit or gravel as well as organic matter when you dig it over.
Finish harvesting autumn-fruiting raspberries and cut down all the canes that have fruited this year.

Water Features
Clear decaying foliage from waterlilies and other marginals in pools. Also clear fallen leaves from the water.
At the end of the month remove any pumps and filters, clean them out and store until spring.
Continue to feed fish until the end of the month, cutting down gradually on the amount you give them.

Alpines
Renew the writing on labels that are starting to fade otherwise you may find that winter rain washes away the writing altogether
Rooted cuttings should be planted out before the end of the month. If they're rather tiny keep them in pots until the spring.
Some alpines with woolly or hairy leaves hate winter rain. You can protect them with tiny open-ended cloches made from large lemonade bottle sliced horizontally. Fasten the cloches down with wire.