As the foliage dies back, it’s time to harvest your maincrop potatoes to store for winter supplies. Dig up the crop, making sure you have every last spud – any you leave behind will sprout again next year. Leave the crop to dry off for a couple of hours on the soil’s surface, turning halfway through to make sure the skins are evenly ‘cured’ so they store for longer; then tip into hessian or paper sacks to store for winter.
Flowers:
Re-fresh tired summer containers with bright seasonal flowers such as cyclamen, chrysanths and dahlias.
Keep dead-heading dahlias, roses and bedding plants to encourage more flowers
Check container-grown plants, especially heucheras, for signs of vine weevil
Fruit & veg:
Finish lifting and drying onions and shallots as the foliage yellows and dies back
Remove long whippy runners from strawberries if extra plants are not needed
Sow or plant out spring cabbages for next year’s harvest
Greenhouse:
Snip out the top shoot of tomato plants once they hit the greenhouse roof
Give aubergines and peppers extra support with canes as fruits swell
Remove shade paint to let in the maximum autumn sunshine
Around the garden:
Tackle perennial weeds, forking them out by the roots or spraying with a recommended herbicide.
Treat your lawn to a light application of HumberPalmers professional lawn fertiliser, which is slow release feed that greens up your lawn without encouraging excessive growth.
Remove dead foliage and other debris from ponds