Preparing your Garden for Autumn

As the season changes from Summer to Autumn it is important that you make a few changes in your garden to ensure that your plants and flowers are still able to reach their full potential, even when the colder, wetter weather hits. You won’t have to change your gardening routine altogether, but a few small changes will keep your garden looking its best.

Thoroughly Deadhead Your Plants

As the cooler nights begin to follow the still warm days, heavy dew will be a problem as it can lead to rot and botrytis. However, thoroughly and regularly deadheading plants from which you are still expecting flowers can help to avoid this problem. You should also be sure to remove any dead flowers from your courgettes because they can damage the fruit to the point of disuse if they begin to rot.

Control Rust

In general, plants are less resilient in the autumn because their peak growing period is almost over. The typically damp conditions in Autumn means that certain plants, such as pelargoniums, are susceptible to rust. To avoid this problem, move the plants into the driest and sunniest area of your garden; a systemic fungicide will also help to prevent rust.

Remove and Re-pot

Autumn is the perfect time to re-pot your plants as you won’t be disrupting them in their prime growing time. Before doing this, you should remove any dead foliage that has fallen into the compost or soil, this will help to avoid any problems caused by rotting foliage. After this, you should re-pot your plants. This is generally good practise as it means that you avoid any build up of mould spores in the soil that could damage plants.

Stake Taller Plants

You should really stake the taller plants in your garden as soon as possible, but the beginning of Autumn is the ideal time to do it if you haven’t already. As Autumn moves in, the plants will become heavier as a result of the rain and dew which increases the chances of stems breaking under the extra weight.

Freshen the Soil

You should ideally refresh the soil in which your plants are growing to avoid any diseases that are encouraged by the damper Autumn weather. The most simple way to freshen up the soil is to remove the layer of mulch. Normally, you will have to add extra mulch, as most of it will have already decomposed. However, if it is still in good condition, you can reuse your mulch for the Autumn. Straw is ideal material for mulch as it is easy to move around and it will provide a good home for spiders, which can help to aid pest control in the garden.

Remove Greenhouse Shading

By Autumn, the days are growing shorter, which means that light is a valuable commodity. This means that you should remove any shading that you had installed in the greenhouse to protect plants during summer, The greenhouse should now be used to keep your plants warm as the Autumn chill sets in.

Do you have more tips on how to prepare a garden for Autumn? Share them with us!