Scrubbing the dirt off

For me, the best thing about the autumn months is that you get a chance to slow down a bit, assess your plot and think about the coming year.

The main jobs will be tidying up any plants and leaves, composting them and then moving and preparing things for the growing season. (Taking care not to disturb your over-wintering plants.)

Tidying
I like to think of autumn tidying as a real keep-fit alternative to buying a gym membership. Do remember to keep warm, ensure you don’t strain yourself, and maybe have a little stretch after any autumn gardening episode.

The most obvious autumn job is clearing up fallen leaves and keeping them to make leaf mould. I like using jute bags for this but you can use bin bags too. Basically when you rake up the fallen leaves, stick them in a bag with holes (for air circulation), and in a few month’s they rot down to make lovely leaf mould.

Cleaning the windows of any conservatory, greenhouse or cold frame is a must because the amount of muck and mould that grows on them really blocks out the light. During the long dark winter nights, (and afternoons) you need every last sunbeam to keep your greenhouse plants ticking over. Elbow grease is the key factor here, and using an eco-friendly cleaning product such as Method Non-Toxic All Surface Cleaner. My routine is spray, scrub, rinse and dry.

A most hated job of mine is clearing weed growth out of pavement cracks. Soil and dirt collects in the gaps between paving slabs and when seeds lodge there they will invariably grow, and if left for too long can take over. I have a handy little tool which is essentially a thick metal blade with a comfortable handle.

It’s simple enough to drag it through the cracks and gouge out the nasty weeds, brushing away any excess soil. This can be a physically demanding job so make sure you take care. I usually shake my arms about a bit to warm them up, then make sure I am bending at the knees and not bending the back when I do this. I usually swap hands for every other paving stone too. This way you are unlikely to strain any muscles.

Remember to compost anything you can, but don’t put dandelion weed roots and such like in, because they’ll just grow in your compost, which is a pain.

Preparation
Digging is another strenuous job that needs to be done this time of year. Our garden only needs normal digging over to one spade’s depth. Watch out for weeds like dandelions who’s roots need to be completely removed from the soil. Any tiny bit of broken root will just grow back into a new plant. I am keeping a keen eye on the field to ensure the planted areas are relatively weed free but I’m finding it difficult to get the remaining plots dug over.

This is largely because when I have the time, it’s either raining or has rained previously. There is just no point trying to dig over a piece of land that is soggy or damp. The field requires double digging as well, (that is digging down to TWO spade depths to really turn over and aerate the soil.) I have also just joined freecycle and am going to start looking for planks of wood, hosing, polythene and old bricks so I can build a small poly tunnel, and improve some of the beds I’ve already dug.

Frog living in the manure bin.

It’s a good time to look at your composting now as well. We have a few things going on at Daisy Cottages and one of those is our manure bin. The volume of horse manure has gone down as the composting process has progressed and the manure is maybe just a few weeks away from being a nice sweet smelling, friable compost.

When it is ready, I’ll be piling it up on one of the spare raised beds so that the worms can dig the nutrients into the soil for me. In the meantime I’ve stuck a fork into it and turned it over a bit to get some air in, and I disturbed a guest! Frogs are useful things to have in and around a garden because they eat slugs and snails.

Other jobs this month include insulating the greenhouse with old bubblewrap, and putting away any particularly delicate plants for protection against frosts. Most of my potted herbs and some strawberries have gone in there this time round. This should also mean that I can give the strawberry plants a bit of a head start in the spring, and maybe get a nice early crop.

Seeds and springtime
You might think its a bit early to be thinking about spring planting but it really isn’t. Don’t forget that Christmas is only a few weeks away, so you can spend some of your cold autumn evenings sitting in front of the fire browsing through seed catalogues, glass of wine in hand. People are always looking for original ideas for presents, why not get friends and family help you stock up on your gardening needs.

My wish list is currently up to £100 or so of stuff, and its mostly from Tamar Organics, an excellent catalogue with a linked website.