Helen's monthly choice - October
Helen Derrin, Crocus plant doctor
Last updated August 2024
It's time to dust off your winter woollies and put on an extra layer before heading outside. On cool, crisp, sunny days, take the opportunity to get most of your spring flowering bulbs in the ground, and give overcrowded perennials a new lease on life by lifting, dividing and replanting them. Also, most perennials can be cut back hard now, and tucked in with a generous layer of mulch to keep them snug. Leave standing anything that’s going to provide winter interest - ie.decorative seed heads, structural stems or food and habitat for wildlife, but make a note to snip these back in late winter or early spring. The brilliant colours of autumn and the subsequent carpet of crunching leaves underfoot will be starting to gain momentum this month. Enjoy the display, but don’t let the fallen leaves sit too long on lawns, pathways or precious plants. Collect them up and transform them into a nutrient-rich mulch by adding them to the compost heap, or making your own leaf mould.
