Give the colder weather a frosty reception

THERE’Snothing like a touch of frost at this time of the year to galvanise the unwary gardener.

I’d made a few efforts to get the work of autumn under way but not enough to get the garden ready for a frost.

So when I woke to find the grass glistening, it was on with the wellies and out with the spade to start lifting all those things that don’t like getting their leaves nipped.

Amongst the many things I’ve moved into the greenhouse were the new salvias.

I planted these earlier this year and they have turned into strong, bushy plants.

If we have a mild winter they’d probably be fine outside, but I don’t want to take a chance so I’ll also be taking plenty of cuttings as a further guarantee of having healthy plants next summer.

The giant white agapanthuses have flowered beautifully since July, but as well as lifting these, I also divided them, so I expect flowering might now be delayed for the next few years.

These produce the most prolific blooms when their roots are a little bit congested and now that they are in large pots with fresh compost I expect it will take them a year or so to settle down again.

I can wait. What’s important is they are under cover and so won’t succumb to winter damp.

Variegated and colourful phormiums are more tender than the plain old green New Zealand flax.

I grow both the plain and the fancy kinds and these too I’ve lifted and split.

Phormiums make great container plants, but you have to be careful not to take an eye out on their sharp tips.

Following predictions we were going to have a barbecue summer, I planted out my fig tree in a sunny spot.

It has survived the summer but I’m not taking any chances of it rotting off during the winter months, so it’s been shifted back into a pot and moved to a sheltered corner where it will stay reasonably dry and will also catch any late sunshine.

I love being outside at this time of the year, digging and cutting back and getting the garden into some sort of order after the exuberance of summer.

What’s delighted me less is the number of vine weevil grubs I’ve uncovered.

It’s too late in the year to use nematodes, a biological control, as this is only effective during warm weather, so I fear I may have to resort to chemical warfare as, left untreated, these nasty little grubs will gnaw away at the roots of everything in their path.

Primulas are one of their favourite snacks. I treated mine with nematodes during the summer, and drenched all my containers with nematodes after finding tell-tale signs that adult vine weevils had been nibbling on my camellias.

But, clearly, I haven’t been vigilant enough so now, every time I lift a plant, I check the roots carefully for grubs and squash on sight