Time to prepare the garden for autumn, even though it is still summer! Gardening always means looking towards the seasons ahead and being prepared for what to grow, what weather will be coming and what might need protecting. It is good to make plans and even write a list of what needs to be done. Here is our guide to getting on track with the months heading into autumn.
- Put pots up onto pot feet
- Sweep up leaves
- Remove annuals
- Cover your pond
- Buy furniture protection
Put pots up onto pot feet to prepare your garden for autumn
Pots and containers need well-drained soil to ensure they don’t sit in water or struggle to drain water away from roots. To prevent them from rotting, place your pots and containers up on pot feet. An alternative is to use bricks to raise them off the ground. Be careful not to cover the drainage holes in the bottom of the pots.
Prepare the garden for autumn and sweep up leaves
As the leaves fall, keep on top of sweeping them up. This not only helps to keep the garden tidy but also keeps them off your plants and pathways. You can make leaf mulch with the collected leaves by placing them in a leaf mulch sack or a black sack with holes in it. Store them safely, and when the leaves have broken down, you can use them as mulch for your plants.
Remove annuals to prepare the garden for autumn
When annuals start to die off, you can leave them to collect seeds for next year and place the plants on the compost pile. This means you can weed and mulch over the ground where they were growing, meaning it will be ready to grow in for the following year or even replace them with winter pansies, heathers and cyclamen to keep colour in the garden for as long as possible.
Prepare your garden for autumn with a pond cover
Covering your pond with netting can help reduce leave fall and other debris entering the pond and disturb the delicate balance for wildlife. Make sure the netting is big enough for pond creatures to get in and out of but enough to stop leaves from getting through.
Furniture protection is needed to prepare the garden for autumn
It’s not just the plants and wildlife that need looking after in the colder months of the year but also your furniture. Colder weather can mean furniture gets wet for long periods, which can, in turn, weather them faster or damage them altogether. Investing in good quality furniture protection will keep your table, chairs and parasol looking its best for as long as possible.
Don’t forget the wildlife too. Now is the time to make sure you have plenty of bird feeders and water baths.
Get your garden autumn-ready with everything you need from Merryhatton.
