Weather and the Gardener
In autumn, not only are the days closing in, but the conditions suitable for outdoor work are getting less frequent. This means that the first favourable opportunities must be taken.
Autumn digging is important, not only because it cleans the ground of annual weeds and buries crop residues, but also because it enables the winter frosts to penetrate the rough soil surface and so break up the larger clods of earth in a very efficient manner to provide a workable tilth.
Trees and Shrubs
Most of last month's flowers may still be providing some colour, but in addition there are a number of Ercia carnea and E. vagans varieties (heaths and heathers), Fatsia japonica (castor oil plant), clematis, and some hardy hibiscus. Then there are the many plants which now provide us with autmum leaf colours and decorative fruits, such as some acers (maples), berberis (barberry), cotoneaster, prunus (Japanese cherries), deciduous azaleas, mahonia, viburnum and vitis (vines).
Planting
Hardy deciduous tress, shrubs and climbers which are not container grown can planted any time between October and March, and evergreens from October to April, provided the latter have been regularly transplanted in the nursery and are dormant when received. If there is any doubt about the state of growth or wuality of evergreens, it is best to plant them this month or next, or in March and April.
Plants delivered from a nursery will either be bare rooted (no soil) or ball rooted (with soil held around the roots by sacking). Occasionally they will be in pots.
When setting out a large number of plants, in a new shrub border for example, place each one at the situation it is to be planted. Work from the back, or centre, of the border or bed, outwards, so that foot marks can be removed as you plant.
Semi-ripe Cuttings
Many shrubs, including Aucuba japonica (spotted laurel), buxus (box), deutzia, lonicera (honeysuckle) and ribes (flowering currant), can be raised now from semi-ripe cuttings. Take 30cm (12in) sturdy side shoots, trim the bases with a sharp knife below a leaf joint (or cut from the parent plant with a 'heel' - a piece of bark), remove leaves from the lower half, and set 15cm (6in) deep and apart in V-shaped trenches in sandy soil in a sheltered corner of the garden.
Flowers
Divide into well-rooted portions congested clumps of achillea, acontium, alchemilla (lady' mantle), anthemis, macleaya, monarda, oenothera (evening primrose), and other vigorous herbaceous plants. Replant immediately in peat-enriched soil to spur rapid re-establishment.
Continue pruning to ground level earlier flowered plants whose seed pods are insufficiently decorative to cut and dry and use for winter flower arrangements.
Alpines
Protect woolly-leaved androsace, artemisia and other plants where autumn and winter wet can rot the foliage, by suspending a sheet of glass held up with stout wire rods, above them,
Trim back spreading plants that are swamping less vigorous kinds.
Brush fallen leaves from drabas, saxifrages, geraniums and other tiny plants in danger of being choked from them.
Bulbs
Plant muscari (grape hyacinth) beneath a hedge, to enjoy the rich gentian-blue flowers which contrast with the winter foliage or bare stems.
Continue planting tulips, daffodils and hyacinths in generous groups in the open garden, in well prepared soil, deeply dug and enriched with general fertilizer. Also, plant up outdoor containers, such as urns, vases and windowboxes.
Vegetables
Sow lettuce under protection to produce plants for transplanting in late November under glass to mature in the spring. Also, sow early summer cauliflower for planting out in containers and overwintering under unheated glass.