Weekly jobs

●●If you have an area of lawn set aside as meadow, it’s time to give it its autumn chop. Cut as close to the ground as possible and remove cuttings. This allows the light in and helps the germination of new seeds. ●●Remove summer raspberry canes which have finished fruiting. Next year’s fruit will be on the fresh green canes and these need tying in to supports.

No raspberries? Think about ordering them and other fruiting canes, such as blackberries, as you can plant them in the dormant season this winter. ●●While this beautiful weather continues and the ground is still warm, it is a good time to lift and divide perennials. They won’t all like division – for example, those with a tap root like a carrot, such as cow parsley. When replanting divisions, give them a good soak and keep well watered to help them establish. ●●Dry days make good seed collection days. Armed with a brown paper bag and pen, shake the seed into the bag and label.

Many seeds can be sown fresh now or kept in a dry, cool place for spring sowing. ●●Keep planting bulbs for next spring – try small easy ones like Chionodoxa (Glory of the Soil) and crocus – easy because you don’t have to dig down far.

About two inches coverage of soil is fine for them.