What to do in October in your Garden

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Tomato Yellow Peach

This year I tried the "Heritage" tomatoes offered as plants. Not all the plants supplied survived and grew but of those that did one cultivar, Yellow Peach, seemed to me to be outstanding.

What To Do in October

There is no such thing as an absolute set date for a job in gardening, for a start temperatures vary according to where you are in the country. Winter comes earlier to Scotland than Devon. Next, each year is different; some warmer and some colder although the trend is toward warmer the exception proves the rule.

So, adjust for where you are and the weather

Harvest

By now the maincrop potatoes should be ready. As the foliage dies back you can cut this off and leave the potatoes for a couple of weeks. This will prevent any stray blight spores from infecting your crop. Wait for a sunny dry day and dig up the potatoes, brushing off excess soil and letting them dry before storing in hessian or paper sacks in a frost free, dark shed.

The last of the beans should be picked now, compost the foliage but leave the roots with their nitrogen full nodules in the soil as a fertiliser.

Carrots can come up to be stored in sand or peat through the winter but leave the parsnips in the ground. They'll be sweeter after a frost.

Cabbages should come up now too, they'll keep remarkably well in that frost-free shed but beware the slug that may be lurking under the leaves. Sprinkling the outside with salt will deter them from eating away through the winter,

Any green tomatoes on outdoor plants may as well come in now before the frost gets them. You can make a green tomato chutney or ripen them up indoors. Green tomatoes will actually store quite well in cool conditions and slowly ripen or you can hasten the process by popping them in a tray in a sunny windowsill with a ripe banana.

General Jobs in the Garden

Manure

As ground becomes vacant you can dig it over and spread manure over the surface. Leave the soil roughly dug in large clumps and the worms will break these up as they get the manure. The freezing and thawing of water in the soil will cause the soil to break up finely so becoming easier to handle in the spring.

Digging

October and November are good months to undertake double digging, incorporating manure into the bottom of the trench and deepening your topsoil.

Green Manure

With finer soils where digging each year is not necessary, you can plant a green manure crop to overwinter such as field beans.

Dig in any green manure crops such as mustard that you planted earlier in the year.

Your compost bins will be filling up as the last of the crops come in so now is a good time to give them a turn to help even decomposition and cover them to keep them warm and damp rather than soaking wet. If you've got a comfrey patch you may as well take the last cut and add to the heap to activate it.

Leafmould

The leaves will start to fall very shortly and these are a valuable resource. Prepare for them by building a leaf mould cage. Very simple to do, you just drive four stakes into the ground and staple chicken netting around to make the cage. Pile in the leaves and leave them alone for a year. You will find the pile reduces by two thirds at least, so keep filling the bin as more leaves fall. If you have one those marvellous garden vacuum mulchers that suck up leaves and chop them, you will find the leaves rot down much more quickly. Watch out for council sweepers, they may just drop you a load of leaves when they call to collect a few veggies off you.

Sowing, Planting and Cultivating

Japanese Onion Sets

It's not too late to plant out Japanese onion sets, these are hardy and will overwinter producing a crop about a month earlier than the spring planted onions. A cloche or fleece covering will get them off to a good start and stop the birds from pulling them out.

Garlic

You can plant your garlic now although this job will hold over into November easily. If you have time and the weather is fine, it's worth doing it when you can because who knows what November's weather will be?

Broad Beans

You can sow broad beans now to get them off to an early start next year, but in colder areas it may be better to wait until spring as germination is more patchy on winter sowings. Better late than never.

When the strawberries have finished tidy up the bed, cut off the tops, remove dead leaves, rotting berries you missed under the foliage and remove self-planted runners.

Remove any yellowing leaves from over-wintering brassicas, they are of no use to the plant and will encourage botrytis to develop.

Pruning and Planting Fruit

Fruit bushes such as black and red currants should be pruned, as should the gooseberries. Now and November are good months to attend to the raspberries, blackberries etc. It's also a good time to plant new canes, adding some compost and 8oz per square yard or 250 grams per square metre of bonemeal to keep them well fed.

You can also split and plant rhubarb crowns now.

In the Greenhouse

Cleaning The Greenhouse

If you've not already done so, now's the time for a good clean out. Take out all those pots and bits you've left in there and put them in the shed – you can tidy that up later!

Next it's time to wash the greenhouse down, a little detergent and disinfectant and a scrubbing brush. Getting the glass clean will allow more light through in the dark days and cleaning the frame will remove pests looking for a good spot to spend the winter.

Insulating The Greenhouse

If you are going to be using the greenhouse through the winter, you can now insulate it. Bubble wrap is good or heatsheets will do the job. Don't forget you will still need some ventilation or mould will run riot in the house.

Lettuce

You can also sow a hardy lettuce like Arctic King and grow them on in your border to give you a salad whatever the weather.

This article was written by John Harrison, author of Vegetable Growing Month by Month and The Essential Allotment Guide

John runs the Allotment Vegetable Growing web site and this article is reprinted from there with some small alterations.

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