How to Prepare your Garden for Autumn | Better HouseKeeper

Make sure to prepare your garden for autumn, you’ll be glad you did. Here’s why and how!

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Autumn can be seen as an ideal preparation season for a lot of people and tree surgeons Essex have some guidance that may aid the process. Often associated with decluttering and laying important foundations for the impact of the incoming winter, the autumn months are perfect for getting your garden in order ahead of the weather taking a turn for the worse. It is the optimum opportunity to remove dead vegetation leftover from the summer, clear those all-important gutters out and top up the appearance of your borders before it is too late.

Garden Equipment TLC

‘Prevention is better than cure’ is a very wise saying and it applies to your gardening equipment too. By taking your lawnmower in for a routine service before you hide it away for a few months will benefit you come the Spring. Garden maintenance is a vital part of keeping everything ticking over without having to unnecessarily re-invest or replace.

Save yourself both time and money by sharpening shears and secateurs that need sharpening, spades, forks, and other tools that can benefit from a decent annual wash. To prevent rusting, make sure you oil metal parts and dry everything else thoroughly before storing it away.

Pond Netting

Decomposing leaves will inevitably damage your pond beyond salvation. They will eventually turn your pond water foul and even block the filters on your pumps. Act now and pre-empt these occurrences by catching falling leaves in a net before they hit your pond.

Spread a fine-meshed net over the pond and secure it with tent pins or heavy objects such as bricks. Your compost heap or leaf mould can benefit from the fallen leaves you remove from the top of the net proving this to be a shrewd and multifunctional decision.

Compost Clear Out

Talking of compost, this brings us nicely onto the next key area of autumn preparation…compost bins. This is the perfect opportunity to create room for this year’s impending waste with a good clear out. The build-up of plant material can be used around the garden freeing up extra space in vegetable plots and around borders. If the current lot is not quite ready, then just start a new one next to it and turn the current one over. This will improve decomposition and will never go to waste.

Border Control

Time to tidy up the edges and keep the borders of your garden looking sharp. To reach their aesthetic potential your borders need to be prepared properly for the months ahead. Their appearance will be pristine come the spring if you follow some simple steps now to avoid disappointment:

●        Dig up annuals and plant your beds with pansies, bellis daisies and wallflowers for example.

●        Cut back faded perennials to around 5cm above ground level

●        Avoid being too tidy. An attractive seed head is best for insects, and they look better in morning dew.

●        Spread a thick layer of compost, some bark chips or an amount of well–rotted manure. 

Let the worms get to work so you can leave the digging in and let them have all the fun on your behalf!