Pick, plant and sow, dig, water and mulch: The little jobs that make such a big difference
It is time to start harvesting apples, pears and quinces.
You can tell when plumbs are ripe by the number of wasps that swarm around them but twisting the fruit of apples will tell you if they are ready to come off the tree. If they resist, leave them for a little longer.
There’s still time to plant up a new strawberry bed if you haven’t done this already, and now is a good time to order fruit bushes for planting in the autumn.
If you sowed cabbages last month then plant them out now, but cover them with a layer of fleece to protect them from hungry pigeons, and keep on sowing winter lettuce and other tasty greens.
Pea shoots can be sown all year round and their fresh flavour is particularly welcome in winter.
If you have any potatoes left in the ground, then dig them up now to prevent slugs from feasting on them and store them somewhere cool, dark and dry.
If the weather hits a dry spell then water your pumpkins as these are still swelling rapidly at the moment and keep watering tomatoes regularly to prevent the fruits from splitting or developing blossom end rot.
When the foliage of asparagus starts to turn brown then it is time to cut this down. Afterwards apply a thick mulch of compost to protect the crowns over winter and to help improve the soil that they are growing in.
In gardens that receive a heavy leaf fall, start making plans with how you are going to deal with this year’s leaves. If you can, create a leaf mould box using old pallets, but otherwise collect used compost sacks and puncture these in readiness for storing leaves while they undergo the long process of becoming leaf mould.
And the simple fact is that you can’t have enough leaf mould. Not only does it make an excellent mulch but it transforms any kind of soil, opening up the structure of clay and helping to add moistureretentive humus to thin soils that drain too easily.
To make it in decent quantities you need to start off with lots of leaves, but it is definitely worth the effort.
If you don’t want to store it in plastic then there are special leaf mould bags available, which are made from jute and will break down with the leaves.