These 2 'key' October jobs will promise your garden flourishes next year
EXCLUSIVE: An expert has revealed key steps to take next month to prepare your garden for beautiful blooms next year.
Two key jobs in early October are key to ensuring your garden flourishes next year, an expert has claimed. Summer is now behind us and the shorter days of autumn are in full swing. But preparations you can make now can be crucial for getting your garden back to its blooming best next year.
Head gardener Emma O'Neill at gardenorganic.org.uk says soil health is "key" for keeping your garden in "prime condition for the following year". She emphasised the importance of green manures and mulching.
Speaking to the Express, Ms O'Neill said, "Here at Garden Organic, we regularly sow green manures, which protect our soil, prevent runoff and soil erosion, promote microbial life, and improve soil structure and fertility."
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Green manures are fast-growing plants "sown to cover bare soil", the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) explains on its website.
They include species like Winter tares (Vicia sativa), winter field beans (Vicia faba), and grazing rye (Secale cereale), according to the RHS.
However, Ms O'Neill notes that green manures "can struggle to germinate in late October so mulching is also important".
She recommends applying a "good layer, approximately 2cm of well-rotted organic matter to your soil to aid nutrients, and all of the above" to "give your plants a head start the following growing season".
"Remember, with milder weather 'weeds' will continue to grow, so if this becomes a problem, hoe them off when it's breezy and bright and leave them to rot down".
Doing so will "also help keep your soil tip-top", she says.
The gardening guru says a job she considers essential in October is lifting and dividing herbaceous perennials.
She said: "This has lots of benefits - to support the plant's health, as it allows the roots space to spread, prevents the harbouring of 'pests' and diseases in old root crowns and promotes flowering."
