Surrey Homes | SH71 | Sept & Oct 2020 | Kitchen & Bathroom supplement inside

Forever
Autumn
Jo Arnell’s tips to keep your garden
blooming all year round
I’m humming along with a wistful (and if I’m honest,
slightly depressing) tune as I type this. I do know that the
summer sun is fading as the year grows old, and darker
days are drawing near. But hey, Mr Haywood, cheer up –
autumn is a beautiful and golden season. It’s my favourite.
And the sun isn’t really fading, it’s just that as the earth tilts
on its axis the sun appears lower in the sky – and that makes
for gorgeous backlit effects through the grasses and lateflowering
perennials. Darker days are drawing near, true,
but that should spur us to seize the moment and squeeze
the most out of the shortening days. Autumn is such a busy
time for gardeners; a time to take stock, to look back at
the year, to see what worked – and what didn’t. A time to
make, prepare for and implement plans and the very best
time to be planting all but the most tender, easily frosted
plants. The one thing that we don’t do so much any more is
put the garden ‘to bed’. These days autumns are milder; the
cold weather often doesn’t arrive until the end of December;
plants stay looking good for longer and some will even
keep flowering until then, if we don’t get an early frost.
Wildlife
Planting shrubs and trees that produce fruit, nuts or
berries will attract insects, birds and small mammals into
the garden at this time of the year. A tree is an ecosystem
in its own right and there are plenty of small trees that
are both pretty and useful to wildlife. A mountain
ash or rowan will have blossom, berries and autumn
colour, as will crabapple, cherry and Amelanchier.
Bug hotels, log piles, hollow stems, fallen leaves and
compost heaps make snug homes for creatures to burrow into
and eke out the winter months. We garden more for wildlife
now and the creatures don’t appreciate it when we sweep away
their overwintering places. Untidy gardens have now been
renamed wildlife havens – a big relief to this untidy gardener.
Annuals and biennials
Many annuals will go on flowering into winter if the weather’s
mild, so do keep deadheading if you want to extend the
display. I’m usually happy for the seed to set by this time, as
this ensures some new plants for next year. If the weather’s
dry it can be very satisfying collecting the seeds of annuals to
sow again. Hardy annuals can be sown now, either straight
into the garden where they are going to flower, or into small
pots and kept in a sheltered place until they’re ready to
be planted out next spring. Many seeds will store
until spring, but remember to keep them in a
cool dry place. Any biennials sown earlier
in the year can be planted out now
into their flowering positions.
Perennials and grasses
The late summer flowers will extend right into November
providing there aren’t any early frosts and the weather
stays calm. You may be tidier than me – I like to let
everything gently subside before clearing up – it’s like
the end of a glorious party when everyone starts drifting
home. Seed heads can look as lovely as the flowers,
are great in arrangements and rather poetic when
left to be dusted with frost or snow in the winter.
Grasses are at their very best now and will persist
through the winter, bringing an airy, ethereal presence
in the borders until the spring. They mix well with late
summer flowers and I often use the bigger varieties,
like Miscanthus, Molinia and Calamagrostis in place of
shrubs to lighten up a space. Grasses are fairly easy to
maintain – cut back the growth on deciduous varieties in
early spring. Evergreens will shed old foliage, so should
just need a comb through before growth starts again.
Dahlias will keep going if deadheaded, but they are
tender and once the temperatures begin to fall, they’ll
show the effects. The slightest frost will kill the top
growth, as if a bad fairy has visited them in the night.
Then comes the dilemma of whether to lift the tubers.
I don’t lift as my soil is light and free-draining, but it
might be a different matter if your soil is heavy clay – this
tends to be wet over the winter and not appreciated by
a tender bulb or dahlia tuber. If you are leaving them in
the ground, cut the foliage back once we’ve had the first
frost and then put a good layer of mulch over the space
(and maybe a stick or label incase you don’t remember
where they are buried). Most of my Dahlias come back
the following year, but I have to keep a vigilant eye out for
slugs and snails in the spring as the new foliage appears.
Bulbs
Planting bulbs is an act of faith; spring will return –
and with it a spectacular reward for your hard work
and patience. Start with the early flowering bulbs like
crocus, narcissus and anemones, then plant alliums and
leave the tulips until last. You can leave tulips as late
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