Winter is coming It’s time to get your garden ready ... before the weather gets too cold

Bananas and tree ferns can be wrapped in horticultural fleece. Avoid doing this on a windy day as it can turn into a very frustrating job with the fleece blowing away!

There are also fleece jackets which can be slipped over the shrub.

The lawn has had a tough time this year but it can take it.

Almost five months of drought has weakened some of the grass plants.

Give it a vigorous rake – this is called scarifying and removes any thatch that has built up, as well as fallen leaves.

Yes, there will be plenty more leaves to fall but it’s best to remove them as this happens otherwise the lack of light will turn the grass yellow and weaken it for the winter.

You can improve drainage for winter by hollow tining the turf – this is the removal of plugs of soil at intervals around the lawn and then sweeping in some silver sands into the holes.

A lot of the glorious herbaceous growth which produced much of the flowers is done so anything that isn’t attractive can be cut back.

However, you don’t have to be super tidy – it’s more beneficial for wildlife if you can leave some areas of wildness. Even a small pile of dead leaves will make a home for beneficial insects such as beetles which will feed on aphids and small caterpillars.

Try to get your weeding done before

Weed: Spurge Pile up: Collect leaves as they drop and put them in bags to create compost for later Scarify your lawn, left, and tidy up bushes and shrubs, above