Top Tips To Get Your Garden Autumn Ready
Autumn is one of the most vital times of the year to get your garden autumn-ready and get it prepared for the next year. You may think that your garden is going into hibernation in autumn and winter but this is the most important part of the year to get all the autumn gardening jobs done to preserve the garden to make it look its best in spring and summer.
In this article, we will be going through all the autumn gardening jobs that you need to do and complete. Getting these jobs done in autumn will save time in the spring and you will be able to concentrate on growing your flowers and seeds.
Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book
Are you starting an allotment or planning on growing your own fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers in a kitchen garden? If so we highly recommend the book Allotment Month By Month. This does exactly what it does on the cover to help you with what you should be doing in the allotment and kitchen garden each month. Below you can see the link for Amazon where you can purchase the book directly. This book is extremely popular with all allotment holders as you will read in the reviews:-
You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.
Garden Autumn Ready Gardening Podcast
Gardening with Ben records regular gardening podcasts where he shares tips and advice on what to do in the garden and allotment. In this episode, he talks through all the jobs that need doing to make your garden autumn-ready. You can listen to the episode below or find Gardening with Ben on any podcast platform including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Echo plus lots more. Don’t forget to click the subscribe button to stay updated on all his podcasts.
Listen to “Episode 107 – Tips to get your garden ready for Autumn” on Spreaker.You can also listen to this episode on Youtube. Follow Gardening with Ben on youtube for all his podcasts and tips videos.
Getting your Garden Autumn Ready Tips
Repair Fences
Check all your fences on the allotment and in the garden. Replace any rotten posts and screw tight the fence. With the autumn and winter winds coming they will soon blow over if they are not supported and fastened up strong. If you don’t check them over they may cause more damage if the fence was to get blown over. If your fence needs a lick of paint do it now before it gets to wet. Adding that extra layer of protection will stop it from rotting fast and the frost damaging it.
Clean Paths
Now is a good time to get that jet washed out and get cleaning your paths. Get all the mud swept off them, weeds removed, and level any paving slabs.
Paint The Shed And Repair
Make any repairs to the shed, replace any rotten wood. Make sure that the door fastens well and won’t blow around in the winter winds. While you have been painting your fence why not paint your shed, make it look fresh for the new year. Paining the shed with wood paint will protect it for years to come and make it last longer.
Paint Beds
If you have any wooden beds paint these up – like the shed if these are not protected with wood paint these will not last long so adding the protection will make them last much longer. Replace any rotten beds with fresh wood. You can find some great pallets that can be stripped down on Facebook MArket place.
Repair the Greenhouse
Check around your greenhouse and make sure the glass has plenty of clips in it to hold the glass tight. Replace any clips that have broken. You see so many greenhouses getting broken in the winter from the strong winds. Make sure that the greenhouse is also screwed to the ground firm and anchored down. It does not take much for the wind to blow a greenhouse over and completely destroy them. Doing these extra checks on a greenhouse can save you hundreds of pounds and also stop you from having to pick up millions of shards of glass.
Repair The Polytunnel, Get It Winter Ready
Check around your polytunnel to make sure that if it has any rips in it to fasten up the rip with special polytunnel tape. This will hold it firm and is waterproof. If the wind gets hold of the polytunnel skin it will soon rip it and you will end up having to fork out on a brand new polytunnel cover.
If you have one of the polytunnels that are usually around £100 and are usually green. Either take the cover off over winter or make sure they are extremely well secured down. The frames on these are not like the expensive polytunnels and will soon buckle in the winter winds.
Clean the Greenhouse
Get your scrubbing brush out and an old toothbrush and give your greenhouse a good scrubbing down. Wash it down with disinfectant. Cleaning it down well will get rid of any pests hiding and any diseases that may be lingering around. If they are not cleaned down thoroughly they may come back next year and strike your plants again.
Wash Plant Pots
Cleaning your plant pots you might not think is important but it is a vital job that needs doing on a yearly basis. The reason for this is that diseases can be hiding in the pots and pests also. It may be a laborious job but it will be worth it if it stops your plants from getting infected.
Build a compost bin
As the leaves are dropping you need to be collecting them up and saving them, yes every leaf. The more you collect the more mulch compost you can make! Get building compost bins and fill them to the top.
Net Ponds
Following on from the leaves falling you need to net your ponds over as leaves will fill them up and could poison your fish and block filters up in the pond. Netting the pond over in Autumn will stop you from having to fish all the leaves out.
Clean Tools
As you are storing your tools away for the winter like your lawn mower and hedge trimmers why not give them a bit of tlc and clean them up to stop them rusting up. Prolong the life of your tools by giving them the maintence they need.
Feed Birds
As winter comes birds will start to struggle for food as the ground freezes up and the berries start to disappear. Start feeding the birds in your garden and encourage them to your allotment. Having birds in your garden will keep the slug population down as they will eat them also.
Clean out Bird Boxes
The birds will no longer be using the bird boxes so give them a good clean out. Remove any old nests, cobwebs and broken eggs. Cleaning them out will encourgae birds to nest in them next year.
Plant Fruit Trees and Bushes
Autumn is always the right time to be planting fruit trees and bushes in the garden. You can always find space to grow more fruit in the garden. Whether it be down the side of a fence or in a gap in the garden. You will find somewhere to plant in the garden.
Move tender plants under cover
Are you growing any tender plants in the garden like geraniums or less hardy fuchsias? Move them inside in a greenhouse or a polytunnel to stop them from dying and the frost killing them off. If unsure you can also fleece them to protect them in the garden.
Clear Away Old Vegetables
As the vegetable plants start to die off in the garden, now is the perfect time to dig all the plants up, clear any old vegetables away and stick them on the compost heap to rot down.
Move Canes Inside
With the bad weather coming, move your canes indoors in the shed. Bad autumn and winter weather will rot your garden canes and they will end up snapping. Garden canes are expensive to purchase so you don’t want to lose them during the bad weather.
We hope you have found these top tips to get your garden autumn ready useful. Get all these jobs done and you will be well on your way to getting your garden and allotment looking great in autumn.
