JOBS TO DO THIS WEEK
Tender plants such as salvias, tender fuchsias, pelargoniums, aeoniums and heliotropes, need to be dug up, potted and put in a frost-free conservatory for winter.
Cover the crowns of tender plants that you are leaving outside with a thick, dry mulch.
Make sure to get some spring bulbs planted – even a few in a pot or window box will delight you next year. Top dress with some winter beddings such as colourful pansies to make the pot look more decorative.
You can sow autumn onions and garlic bulbs now. That will give them time to develop strong roots before winter. ‘Early Purple Wight’ is a robust early purple garlic that produces large bulbs in early June.
Wrap up bananas, tree ferns and other tender species you are leaving outside for winter – horticultural fleece or straw with hessian is good.
Evergreen hedges can get a final winter trim.