Job of the week: Plant bulbs
Take the opportunity this weekend to plant a few bulbs. These really are amazing value and will reward you for many years with beautiful spring flowers. There are bulbs for every garden and they are also perfect for pots to bring colour to your patio or doorway.
Flowers:
Prune hybrid tea and floribunda roses by a third to reduce wind rock in winter. Finish pruning in February.
It’s a good time to move hardy evergreens shrubs if necessary.
Leave seedheads on alliums, crocosmia and honesty for pretty winter displays
Fruit & veg:
Finish harvesting pumpkins, squashes and marrows before the first frosts
There’s still time to plant overwintering onion sets and garlic
Feed fruit trees and bushes with Sulphate of Potash
Greenhouse:
Plant spring bulbs like hyacinths in containers under cover for early indoor displays next year
Keep opening vents on mild days but close again in the afternoon
Pick the last crops including green tomatoes, peppers and aubergines
Around the garden:
Raise pots on pot feet or small pieces of slate to help excess rainwater drain out the drainage hole
Continue clearing perennial weeds, forking them out by the roots
Rake dead leaves off the lawn or pick up with the mower
