October in Your Garden 2022

Here is our round-up tips, suggestions, and news for gardeners!

Welcome to the most colourful of seasons. As nature shows off her autumnal trees spectacular sunsets and a few frosty mornings, there’s still plenty to do in your garden.

ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL

Colourful Winter Bedding and Shrubs

Choose Pansy, Viola, or outdoor Cyclamen for bright colours all through the winter. Or, how about Primroses and Polyanthus to brighten up pots, planters, or baskets this winter? Our centres have compost and a varied range of pots and planters.

Pyracantha with bright, colourful berries or the striking foliage of Miscanthus are our tips for low maintenance, late season colour, year after year

Spring Bulbs

Prepare your garden for spring by planting out spring bulbs. Mix Daffodils, Crocus, Tulips and Snowdrops for a long, colourful display in Spring.

A white Christmas

Surrounded yourself with fragrant, flowering daffodils at Christmas. Paperwhite Daffodils take around six weeks from planting to flower, so give it a go at the end of October.

TOP TIP

Plant spring bulbs under your autumn bedding plants for even more colourful pots and planters

SMASHING PUMPKINS

With Halloween around the corner, October is of course the perfect time to harvest pumpkins! Whether you’re carving them or cooking them, pumpkins are a hugely versatile crop.

LET’S TALK LAWNS

The hot, dry summer has taken its toll on lawns this year. October is a good time to begin an autumn turf care regime:

• Aerate your lawn to improve compaction and drainage in the soil by making holes in the lawn and encouraging root growth.

• Scarify by scratching and scraping away at the surface with a strong wire rake to remove the build-up of dead grass and moss called thatch.

• Apply a sandy top dressing after aeration to improve soil texture and encourage rooting.

• Use an autumn feed high in phosphates to improve root development.

• October is a good time for re-seeding or re-turfing worn areas. Temperatures are not too cool, and the rainfall is likely to be high.

OCTOBER IS A HIGH MAINTENANCE MONTH

• Trim and feed hedges
• Cutback conifers this month.
• Pressure wash patios and decking,
• Fumigate your greenhouse to kill insects harbouring in nooks and crannies
• Clear leaves off lawns, paths, and patios
• Keep on weeding -the war with weeds never ends!
• Collect seeds. Gather the seeds from hardy perennials, such as astrantia, and sow them right away to grow indoors.
• Recycle rainwater. Keep your garden sufficiently watered in an environmentally friendly way by using a water butt to collect rainwater. We have plenty of water butts in stock at our centres to help you harvest all the rain!
• Prepare your decking, garden furniture, gates, and timber products for the winter. The Innovative brand, Osmo, has just hit the shelves of our Midgley centre.

Top Tip

Clear leaves off the lawn using a lawn mower. The cutting action will help to shred the leaves, making them quicker to rot.

PLANT A NATIVE HEDGE

October is the time to plan and plant a native hedge. Nothing attracts and nurtures the birds and the bees better than a native British hedge. For a natural blend of berries, flowers and leaves try hawthorn, blackthorn, field maple, elderberry, and dog rose.

BIRDCARE

At Earnshaws, we take bird care seriously. Each of our centres stock a range of feed, bird tables and feeders. October is time to stock up and prepare to feed the birds through the winter!
Our quality timber bird tables made in-house at Midgley, will help keep precious treats and vital food away from greedy vermin, plus encourage a rich diversity of birds to your garden.

Click here to view our helpful guide to feeding the birds in your garden.

Photo courtesy of the Tree Council

THE TREE COUNCIL – WORKING TOGETHER FOR THE LOVE OF TREES SINCE 1973.

The Tree Council brings everyone together with a shared mission to care for trees and our planet’s future. October is The Tree Council Seed Gathering Season.
Read more here

SEND US YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS TO SHARE ON FACEBOOK

October can be a beautiful month. Send us your photographs of wildlife, garden or autumn scenes and we will post the best on our active Facebook Page!

GARDENING BOOK CLUB:

Timber was, as Maggie Campbell-Culver points out, the oil of the 17th century. This fascinating read has 22 sub-chapters on individual trees that are fascinating, sometimes quirky, and often still relevant.

Final Word

“We had better be without gold than without timber”

— John Evelyn

Stay safe,

From all the team at Earnshaws.