STIHL GB | STIHL October Garden Guide with Jane Moore | October Gardening Jobs | STIHL GB @STIHLGB | Uploaded October 2023 | Updated October 2024, 2 hours ago.
We’re back with the latest instalment of the STIHL garden guide! This month, Jane Moore showcases jobs to do in your garden in October in the STIHL October Garden Guide video.
🔶 Autumn Favourites
You might think that October is all about autumn colour, falling leaves and things drawing to a close as the nights get earlier and darker. And of course, it is, but it’s always surprising how many plants keep on flowering for as long as they can. This is a great time for planting with the soil nice and warm and damp, as long as it stays mild and not frosty. Grasses and ferns really come into their own as herbaceous plants die back.
🔶 Shrubs
Autumn is the perfect time of year to plant shrubs and there are so many lovely ones to grow. For wildlife value, try to find a spot for a fruiting shrub like Cotoneaster as birds love the red berries. You might prefer the brilliant purple berries of Callicarpa or Beautyberry is its common name. This is a bit of a love it or loathe it plant and the birds love it. It’s interesting because the birds will leave berries until all the red and orange ones have gone, which means you can enjoy them on the plant for longer.
🔶 Autumn Flowers
It’s not all just foliage, there are still a surprising array of flowers to enjoy. Sedum, Verbena and Asters still look fresh as a daisy! These plants are the late stars of the garden, but the trick is to make sure that they get their moment in the spotlight. That means some selective cutting back of surrounding plants.
October is usually spent cutting plants back and tidying up for the winter ahead, but times have changed in the past few years. Nowadays, modern practice is to leave your garden be in the autumn, leaving the plants to set seed and die back naturally as the colder weather sets in. This technique is brilliant for wildlife like small birds that can creep about among the stems, pecking up the seeds. It’s also great for many insects that can use hollow herbaceous stems to shelter in.
🔶 Weeding
Autumn is the best time to for weeding. For persistent weeds, the best way to get rid of them around plants is simply to dig them out. Rooty weeds like Bindweed and Enchanter’s Nightshade will sprout into growth swiftly next spring so tackling them now, when they’re not growing will give your garden plants a head start in the spring. It’s a constant battle to keep them at bay but roots are easy to spot and to trace back through the soil!
Annual weeds like Willowherb or Epilobium, and things like Petty Spurge and Bittercress, are nowhere near as much of a problem. They seed freely and pop up all over the place but they’re easy enough to pull out as they appear.
🔶 Bulbs
We’re now well into daffodil planting season but hold on to your tulip bulbs for a bit longer. It’s a good idea to buy them now though, as some varieties sell out very quickly. Tulips need to go in once we start to get the colder temperatures, November really, but daffodils and other bulbs like Anemone corms and dwarf Irises can be planted throughout October.
It’s popular amongst gardeners to plant little bulbs in pots. Whilst bulbs such as dwarf daffodils, Anemones and Irises are often planted in old terracotta pots, bowls and all sorts of garden containers! All these bulbs will give you a succession of flowers that you can dot around to brighten up your garden next spring.
🔶 Planting Bulbs
Little bulbs make great garden plants too, adding a welcome splash of colour and catching the spring sunshine especially well. They look good in the garden border and will grow well under trees and shrubs, brightening the border beautifully while the trees and shrubs are lacking leaves. Whilst bigger plants are bare of leaves in the early spring, the bulbs can get all the sun they need to bring them into flower.
To make the planting look natural scatter the bulbs over the area and then plant them where they land, making sure you plant them at three times their depth. If you’re naturalising bulbs in your lawn, you can do the same, or you can lift a section of turf and plant a handful of bulbs underneath.
There’s no limit to what you can do with bulbs - they also look great in raised beds, where you can see the flowers more closely, and in rock gardens too. If you’re not sure what to do with them then plant them in pots as they can always go into the ground later.
There’s always more to do in the garden, but that’s our round up of tips for October. Hopefully you’ve got some ideas. Do let us know what you’re up to in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe to the STIHL GB YouTube channel for more ideas in November.
🔶 STIHL Website: stihl.co.uk
🔶 Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/stihlgb
🔶 Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/stihl_gb
🔶 Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/stihlgb
#STIHL #STIHLGB #OctoberGardenGuide #GardenGuide #STIHLGardenGuide #JaneMoore
We’re back with the latest instalment of the STIHL garden guide! This month, Jane Moore showcases jobs to do in your garden in October in the STIHL October Garden Guide video.
🔶 Autumn Favourites
You might think that October is all about autumn colour, falling leaves and things drawing to a close as the nights get earlier and darker. And of course, it is, but it’s always surprising how many plants keep on flowering for as long as they can. This is a great time for planting with the soil nice and warm and damp, as long as it stays mild and not frosty. Grasses and ferns really come into their own as herbaceous plants die back.
🔶 Shrubs
Autumn is the perfect time of year to plant shrubs and there are so many lovely ones to grow. For wildlife value, try to find a spot for a fruiting shrub like Cotoneaster as birds love the red berries. You might prefer the brilliant purple berries of Callicarpa or Beautyberry is its common name. This is a bit of a love it or loathe it plant and the birds love it. It’s interesting because the birds will leave berries until all the red and orange ones have gone, which means you can enjoy them on the plant for longer.
🔶 Autumn Flowers
It’s not all just foliage, there are still a surprising array of flowers to enjoy. Sedum, Verbena and Asters still look fresh as a daisy! These plants are the late stars of the garden, but the trick is to make sure that they get their moment in the spotlight. That means some selective cutting back of surrounding plants.
October is usually spent cutting plants back and tidying up for the winter ahead, but times have changed in the past few years. Nowadays, modern practice is to leave your garden be in the autumn, leaving the plants to set seed and die back naturally as the colder weather sets in. This technique is brilliant for wildlife like small birds that can creep about among the stems, pecking up the seeds. It’s also great for many insects that can use hollow herbaceous stems to shelter in.
🔶 Weeding
Autumn is the best time to for weeding. For persistent weeds, the best way to get rid of them around plants is simply to dig them out. Rooty weeds like Bindweed and Enchanter’s Nightshade will sprout into growth swiftly next spring so tackling them now, when they’re not growing will give your garden plants a head start in the spring. It’s a constant battle to keep them at bay but roots are easy to spot and to trace back through the soil!
Annual weeds like Willowherb or Epilobium, and things like Petty Spurge and Bittercress, are nowhere near as much of a problem. They seed freely and pop up all over the place but they’re easy enough to pull out as they appear.
🔶 Bulbs
We’re now well into daffodil planting season but hold on to your tulip bulbs for a bit longer. It’s a good idea to buy them now though, as some varieties sell out very quickly. Tulips need to go in once we start to get the colder temperatures, November really, but daffodils and other bulbs like Anemone corms and dwarf Irises can be planted throughout October.
It’s popular amongst gardeners to plant little bulbs in pots. Whilst bulbs such as dwarf daffodils, Anemones and Irises are often planted in old terracotta pots, bowls and all sorts of garden containers! All these bulbs will give you a succession of flowers that you can dot around to brighten up your garden next spring.
🔶 Planting Bulbs
Little bulbs make great garden plants too, adding a welcome splash of colour and catching the spring sunshine especially well. They look good in the garden border and will grow well under trees and shrubs, brightening the border beautifully while the trees and shrubs are lacking leaves. Whilst bigger plants are bare of leaves in the early spring, the bulbs can get all the sun they need to bring them into flower.
To make the planting look natural scatter the bulbs over the area and then plant them where they land, making sure you plant them at three times their depth. If you’re naturalising bulbs in your lawn, you can do the same, or you can lift a section of turf and plant a handful of bulbs underneath.
There’s no limit to what you can do with bulbs - they also look great in raised beds, where you can see the flowers more closely, and in rock gardens too. If you’re not sure what to do with them then plant them in pots as they can always go into the ground later.
There’s always more to do in the garden, but that’s our round up of tips for October. Hopefully you’ve got some ideas. Do let us know what you’re up to in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe to the STIHL GB YouTube channel for more ideas in November.
🔶 STIHL Website: stihl.co.uk
🔶 Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/stihlgb
🔶 Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/stihl_gb
🔶 Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/stihlgb
#STIHL #STIHLGB #OctoberGardenGuide #GardenGuide #STIHLGardenGuide #JaneMoore
