End-of-season jobs
By Mary Whiting, keen gardener and early years consultant
All gardens need 'putting to bed' for winter; do it now before the weather gets cold and wet.
* Cut the stems of perennial flowering plants down to about 15cm. Chop up and compost them, perhaps saving woody ones for a November bonfire. Save peeled 'honesty' seed pods for silvery indoor decorations.
* Dig up any remaining potatoes; chop up the stems for compost.
* Remove and compost summer annuals, including vegetables such as tomatoes, aubergines, beans and peas; chop up and compost.
* Cut the fruited, brown raspberry canes down to the ground; tie in the new green canes.
* Harvest pumpkins, weigh them, carve into Hallowe'en jack-o-lanterns, then make into soup.
* Collect leaves as they fall and save in a cylinder of wire mesh to slowly rot into leaf mould.
* Generally tidy up, but somewhere leave a pile of logs, dead leaves, some plant debris and long grass for minibeasts to hibernate in.
* Start feeding the birds with wet wholemeal bread and pieces of fat.
Perhaps buy a squirrel-proof nut feeder. Remember to put out food early on every day - birds need reliable food supplies.
Looking ahead to spring...
* Leave chard and spinach plants in the ground; there'll be another crop next spring.
* Check your broccoli plants. Firm the soil around them, pull off any yellow leaves and bin or burn, and prop up any leaning stems.
* Leave weeds such as deadnettle and groundsel to overwinter and provide vital food for bees in early spring, when not much else is in flower.
* Plant wallflowers for spring, perhaps with forget-me-nots.
* Sow 'poached egg plant' seeds to cover bare soil over winter. Dig in as green manure next spring.
Indoors
* Bring bulbs into the light and exclaim over the long roots of hyacinths balanced on glass jars. Perhaps sprout potatoes, avocados and onions on jars too, and compare the different root systems.
* Also sprout sprigs of sedum, pelargonium, mint or rosemary in water and wait for small roots to grow. Sedum cuttings can live in water for months and will quickly grow a mass of roots. For new, free plants, carefully plant rooted cuttings in potting compost.
