As we move into Autumn and the nights become cooler and dewy, the necessity for watering lessens. Summer flowers often have a new lease of life and prolific flowerers like Dahlias may be at their best this month. Continue to deadhead, or cut flowers to bring indoors, to ensure continued flowering. There may be more slugs about on these damper nights so vigilance is needed, and they can be picked off, or slug pellets scattered. This month is a fantastic time to plant your Spring flowering bulbs. Choosing large, quality bulbs will pay dividends in flowers next year.
Lawns
This is a perfect time for making repairs to lawns, to make good those patches worn out by the Summer activities. Visit your garden centre and ask for advice for lawn seed to suit your particular needs. Rake off the dead grass and moss, loosen the surface of the soil and scatter lawn seed over the area. Tamp down the surface, water, and keep moist until established. You may need to protect the area from birds, and from little feet!
Mulch those borders
A nice Autumn job , following a weeding session is to mulch the soil around the plants with some bulky compost, adding a layer around a couple of inches deep. This can be from your own compost heap, or you can buy bags of soil improver from your Tates store. Your plants will enjoy warm, moist soil around their roots, and the layer of mulch will help to suppress weeds.
Wildlife
It is tempting to tidy up the garden once flowers have finished, but maybe leave some plants to set seed and dry naturally in situ. Many herbaceous plants such as Sedums and Verbena look lovely in the winter frost, and of course if you have ornamental grasses they will add some movement when all else is asleep.
Insects hibernate in the hollow stems and in piles of vegetation that are left undisturbed, so it is perhaps a good excuse for being a little less tidy! Our garden birds will appreciate it too, and will find useful food in seedheads left on plants. Poppies, Nigella and herbs such as Fennel and Dill can be left in place for the time being.
Think about growing berried trees and shrubs like Mountain Ash, Viburnums and Crab apples for the birds to feed on in Autumn. There are so many to chose from, and now is a good time to get them established before the Winter.
Gardening With Tates of Sussex Garden Centres
Here at Tates of Sussex we are more than just a garden centre, in fact our team of green-fingered enthusiasts have years of experience in all things gardening, going beyond most gardening centers to offer our customers a range of services and guidance. If the glorious summer weather has sparked your imagination and had you thinking about a few upgrades to your garden, then look no further than Tates of Sussex Garden Centres. Our Big Summer Sale is still on, which brings huge reductions of up to 50% across all of our ranges. If a new garden building is on the cards we are also offering 20% off our superb quality malvern sheds and summer houses as well as 5% off our greenhouses. Our showrooms are at South Downs Nurseries and Paradise Park Garden Centre with a selection of our best sellers on display at Mayberry Garden Centre. If you would like to know any more about our Big Summer Sale or have any burning gardening questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch and a member of our friendly staff will be more than happy to speak with you.
