Gardening in October

October signals the true start of autumn. There are less daylight hours and a real chance of frost. It is often a wet and very windy month. There may be one or two pleasantly warm days but generally it is chillier. In effect the main growing season has come to an end.

Planting and sowing:

• Plant garlic in pots or tubs
• Plant spring cabbages
• Finish planting winter onion sets
• Radishes, mustard cress, and winter lettuces can be still sown under glass or in greenhouse in pots or grow-bags
• Plant hyacinths for growing indoors
• Plant some spring flowering bulbs or pansies in garden or in tubs
• Plant some herbs in pots to keep inside
• You can sow broad beans now if you live in a mild area and have light soil.

Harvesting:

• Harvest apples and pears
• Harvest green tomatoes to ripen indoors
• Harvest lettuce & salad leaves
• Harvest pumpkins and squashes – make Halloween pumpkin or squash/pumpkin soup
• Keep picking any blackberries, autumn fruiting raspberries and maybe strawberries. (Try growing alpine strawberries which fruit until the first frosts).
• Dig up root vegetables (except parsnips) or cover them with a straw mulch and leave in the ground to harvest when required.

Jobs:

• Cover any cauliflower curds by bending over the leaves.
•  
  If the soil is dry water where necessary.
• Weed where necessary. Make sure around fruit trees and bushes is weed free.
• Check any stored food and throw away any that are damaged
• Clear away any fallen leaves
• Remove any dead plants
• Remove dead leaves from growing plants such as sprouts
• Clear away any diseased fruit or leaves that have fallen fruit fruit bushes and trees. (This helps remove potential pest hiding places)
• Empty used grow-bags onto vegetable beds.
• Dig beds if they are neither too dry nor too wet and prepare them for next season’s planting
• Plan what you will grow next year
• Build a compost bin
• If you are starting a new plot click here
• Send for seed catalogues or browse seed company sites on the Internet.
• Place glue bands around apple and pear trees to defend against crawling insects.
• Prune any blackberries or similar fruit. This could be a dangerous job for children if you grow a variety with thorns so you may wish to have a adult carry out this task.

 
Wildlife:

• Make a hedgehog home or pile up leaves where hedgehogs can over-winter.
• Make a frog or toad box
• If possible leave flower seed heads especially of plants loved by wildlife such as sunflowers and berries
• Feed the birds - you may want to design some bird feeders.
• Keep bird baths and feeders topped up.
• Make a log-pile or bee box or other insect home.
• Notice the leaf colours and shapes. Watch how they decompose. 

Click here for advice on choosing children's gardening tools and make sure you have all the equipment that you need for this months work.

Back to calendar index page