Autumn is a great time for a garden overhaul

We’ve had the best now of the Spring and Summer colour from our garden, Autumn is well on it’s way.  The show of Autumn colours as we all know has it’s own unique attraction with the warm yellows, amber and russet tones lighting up the garden.

Autumn of course is essentially the time where the structure and framework of a garden becomes more exposed, fence panels revealed once again, boundaries become visible for the first time in months.

As we begin to see the garden more without the colour of the Spring and Summer, it’s so easy to go back indoors and leave the garden to fend for itself until another mad rush at the start of Spring.  This is a massive mistake, Autumn is the perfect time to review, plan and renew, overhauling your garden before the ultra-cold and dark season of winter sets in.

Here’s just a few garden overhaul jobs you can get on with this Autumn

  1. Reflect on how certain plants have performed, are they in the right place?  Move them if possible to a better position.
  2. Has any of your plants become too crowded, lift and divide if you can
  3. Take out spent bedding plants and replace with winter bedding
  4. Mulch all of your bare soil to keep moisture in and weeds out.
  5. Check out all your fence panels aren’t broken or damaged
  6. Take a quick look at all your fence posts are they strong enough to withstand winter storms?
  7. If the layout of your garden didn’t quite work this year, move things around a little.
  8. Create new planting areas and raised beds.
  9. Get some well rotted manure or new compost on beds, your plants will thank you next spring.
  10. If you fancy a wildflower bed now is a great time to sow seeds ready for next spring.
  11. Pop in some spring bulbs.
  12. Preserve the good fence panels – timber is too precious to let it rot.

No matter what you do, don’t stop gardening in the Autumn and Winter.  Although the seasons become harsher as the year rolls on, gardening and garden maintenance is a year round activity.  Great for mental wellbeing and physical health alike.

Don’t forget about the environment

A more environmentally conscious garden is always best – here are few ideas to get you started

  1. Create a wildlife sanctuary – from a simple insect hotel to a wildlife friendly pond, embrace nature.
  2. Let the ‘weeds’ grow a little.  Weeds are only plants in the wrong place, all plants are beneficial to the environment so don’t tidy up too much.
  3. Actively avoid all pesticides and herbicides, go for more organic control mechanisms.  Or simply let nature find a balance, you’ll be surprised what will find your greenfly a fantastic feast.
  4. Plant for pollinators – choose plants that help pollinating insects instead of those plants that make life hard for our insect friends.
  5. If nothing else, avoid plastic grass, too much concrete and hard landscaping.