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Your garden can bring you lots of pleasure! As the seasons change, so too does your garden and at Armitage’s Garden Centres in Shelley & Birchencliffe, we have everything you need to keep your garden looking fantastic – whatever the season!
Autumn Tidy Up
Now’s the time to get your garden ready for winter with an autumn tidy up! Give the patio a good clean and rake up any leaves and debris, especially on the lawn or on top of plants, and compost them. However, make sure you dispose of any diseased leaves. If you have a lot of leaves to rake up, consider buying a garden vac instead.
Plant Bulbs
You can’t beat spring flowering bulbs for a splash of colour and now’s the time to plant them! Buy bulbs early so they are as fresh as possible, and remember good bulbs are plump, firm and free from blemishes. They should also be a good size (for the type) as, if they are too small, they may not flower in the first year. The best displays come from planting in clusters, and most look fantastic in pots and containers. To get the best from your bulbs, plant them at the correct depth (as a general rule they should be planted at a depth two or three times the bulb height) with compost or composted bark and a slow-release or control-released fertiliser, and remember to label the plant position.
Plant Winter Baskets & Containers
To ensure you get the best displays from your winter and spring hanging baskets and containers, plant now so plants can establish themselves before the onset of the cold weather. Plants to use include Ivy, dwarf Conifers, and dwarf shrubs such as Euonymous and Skimmia. Winter flowering Pansies, hardy Primulas and Polyanthus also look great. Add bulbs such as Crocus, Snowdrops and dwarf varieties of Tulips and Daffodils to extend the display.
Autumn Lawncare
If your lawn isn’t looking at its best, now is the time to do something about it. Start by removing the build up of dead grass, moss and other debris with a spring-tine rake or scarifier. Then aerate the soil with a hollow-tine aerator or garden fork. Top dress with a ready-to-use top dressing or make your own from equal parts of sharp sand and peat. Then apply a granular autumn lawn feed or, if necessary, feed, weed and moss killer. Finally, reseed any gaps with the correct lawn seed mix.
Autumn Planting
Now is the best time to replant dull areas of the garden of even make new planting areas. Get new plants off to the best possible start by digging in compost, composted bark or other bulky soil improvers and add a slow release fertiliser such as bonemeal or controlled release fertilisers to the soil. Make sure plants are well watered before and after planting.
Composting
Don’t throw away your spent bedding plants, kitchen waste and other plant material, turn them into valuable compost for improving your soil and mulching your beds and borders. Even those fallen leaves can be turned into leafmould – the perfect soil improver and mulch!
Force bulbs for a Christmas Display!
To guarantee flowers for Christmas, buy prepared hyacinth and other bulbs now. You will need to pot them up leaving the neck of the bulb just exposed above the compost, then leave somewhere cold and dark for 10 to 14 weeks. They can be moved into light and warmth when the flower buds can be seen emerging through the centre of the foliage.
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