Get out into the garden while you still can

Here’s a tip for all you armchair gardeners. Get out into the garden while you still can. To echo Game of Thrones – Winter is coming. And as it comes on you are running out of opportunities to tidy up and make your outdoor spaces look reasonably neat during the colder, duller months of the year.

Meteorologists are predicting the chance of a colder winter is significantly higher than in recent years. Great if you’re hoping for a white Christmas – not so much if you have stuff to do in the garden, so now’s the time to prepare.

Here are a few of the things you should be doing to protect your garden against the worst that winter has to throw at it and keep it in tip top condition, ready for the next growing season:

• Rake your lawns and keep them clear of fallen leaves – also clear leaves from sheds, ponds and flower beds. Use the collected leaves to make leaf mould for compost.
• Raise containers on to pot feet to prevent water logging.
• Plant out tulip bulbs for next spring’s floral display.
• Prune roses.
• Plant out winter bedding plants.
• Cover any brassicas (cabbages, Brussels sprouts etc) to protect them against birds – particularly if pigeons are a problem where you live.
• Insulate containers to protect them from frost.
• Put grease bands around the trunks of your fruit trees to stop winter moth damage.
• If you have one, make sure your bird table is in good repair and put out bird feed to encourage winter birds into the garden.
• Clean out water butts and let the autumn rains refill them. Install a new water butt ready for next year.
• Once plants are dormant, it’s time to lift and relocate any you want to move.
• If there is a prolonged dry spell, now’s your last chance to repaint any fences or sheds.

Looking ahead to the festive season, if you have holly gather a few stems with berries to use for Christmas garlands – before the birds eat all the berries. Stand the cut stems in a bucket of water in a sheltered spot where the birds can’t get at them.

For more details of jobs to do in the garden this month visit the RHS website