Autumn is here, but it’s a productive time in the garden. Here are some of the jobs you need to do this month.
Apply vine weevil nematodes, especially to containers. Vine weevils attack the roots of plants and when the damage becomes visible it’s already too late.
If you spot brown rot on any of your fruit trees on on the windfall fruit, remove the affected fruit to stop the problem spreading. Brown rot causes the fruit to turn brown with grey-brown ‘mould’ on the surface.
Seeds Suitable to Sow Outside: onions, radishes, spinach, turnips and winter lettuce.
In The Greenhouse
Remove shading to make the most of the sunshine.
Clean out plants as they finish for the season, it makes the job easier and helps keep your greenhouse clean and free of fungal spores.
When raspberry canes have finished fruiting cut them down to the base.
Cut down the foliage of asparagus plants to 5-10cm high and cover the beds with a mulch of well rotted compost or well rotted manure.
If your strawberry plants are 3-4 years old now is a good time to think about replacing them if the yields have started to drop. Container grown strawberries especially can have a real drop in yield as the compost gets exhausted. You can order plants to be delivered in the autumn. This gives them a head start for the following year.