Tips on how to tend to your garden as Autumn approches - plus, find out what else needs doing in the garden this week.

By Hannah Stephenson


It's time to ease yourself out of the deckchair and put on your gardening gloves because autumn is almost upon us, and with it, a plethora of tasks to wake you from your summer slumber.

There's a host of jobs to do to get ahead this autumn, so make the most of the last warm days by perking up your plants, then enjoy the season change as the leaves turn from green to brilliant shades of warm yellow, burnt orange and burgundy.

Here's just a few of the tasks you could be doing to get a head start:


:: Patio Plants

When your summer bedding is past its best and beyond reviving, chuck it out and treat yourself to a fresh batch of winter-flowering pansies, evergreens and shrubs including autumn heather, Skimmia japonica 'Rubella' and variegated ivy to drape over the sides. Plant bulbs such as dwarf narcissi underneath. Spring-flowering bulbs in pots combine well with winter bedding plants such as pansies, evergreens, grasses and heathers. Group taller bulbs in the centre of the pot and use seasonal bedding nearer the sides.


:: Boost your lawn

Autumn is a great time to sow a new lawn, when the ground is still warm and there is likely to be some rain. You should have prepared the soil the previous season, making sure it has been well firmed and settled before levelling. Mark out your area and sow the seed evenly, scattering it in both directions before raking it into the soil surface. If it doesn't rain, water the seed well and keep the soil moist until the grass starts to appear. Net the area or put up a scarecrow to keep birds away.

If you have bare patches, mow the lawn, rake the surface to remove debris then spread seed over the sparse areas, sweeping it into the surface, before covering it with a fine layer of compost and watering it in.


:: Order bulbs

You should be ordering your spring bulbs now, some of which can be planted as early as August. Among the first spring bulbs for planting are narcissi, both in the border and in containers. Others for planting in early autumn include muscari, crocus, iris and hyacinth. Plant dwarf bulbs in your patio pots underneath winter-flowering pansies and foliage-fillers including euonymus and ivies. Plant your bulbs in gritty compost and place pots on feet to avoid the bulbs becoming waterlogged from the bottom.


:: Sow seeds

You don't have to just sow seeds in spring, because a range of flowers and veg can be sown in autumn to give a longer harvesting time or simply to have a better start after overwintering. Salads can be sown through to mid-September for overwintering, some lettuces will reach a size which is perfect for picking before the cold slows down growth. Use cloches to cover those to be left in the ground a bit longer. Baby spinach leaves and corn salad are worth sowing if you can cover them later, as are several types of overwintering lettuce. Sow overwintering onions in vacant rows in the veg plot and transplant in October. You can also sow some hardy annuals in late summer - Chiltern Seeds (www.chilternseeds.co.uk, 01491 824675) is now offering a number of new varieties including Centaurea americana 'Aloha Blanca', which is robust and tall growing, bearing beautiful, fluffy, ivory-white flowers six inches across, and Papaver somniferum 'Lauren's Grape', which has crisp, velvety, deep plum-purple petals and attractive grey-blue-green foliage.


:: De-clutter shed

Now's the time to clear out those cracked and broken pots, rusty tools and snapped bamboo canes to make some space for yourself. Invest in a tool rack from any good DIY store on which to hang your forks, spades, lawn edgers and other large tools which will otherwise take up valuable floor space. Disinfect and neatly pile seed trays which won't be used until next year and give your hand tools a good clean, wiping blades over with an oily rag before prolonged storage.


:: Go visit

There's a plethora of shows and public gardens to visit this autumn to inspire and enlighten, including the Malvern Autumn Show (September 28-29, www.threecounties.co.uk/malvernautumn) in Worcestershire, featuring live cookery demos and an audience with Mary Berry; Harrogate Flower Show (September 13-15, www.flowershow.org.uk) in the Great Yorkshire Showground which includes large show gardens and traditional autumn border plots and new giant veg classes; and a host of National Trust properties boasting amazing autumn gardens, including Drummond Gardens in Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland, which boasts a beautiful array of acres, and Chillingham Castle in Alnwick, Northumberland, where in autumn the delightful woodland and lakeside walks become the star attraction when deer and red squirrels can be spotted among trees of blazing colour.


Best of the bunch - Rudbeckia

Summer may be almost over, but zingy rudbeckias keep flower borders bright, with their daisy-like flowers and chocolate brown centres, blending beautifully as the colours in the garden change.

These eye-catching, robust perennials are known as coneflowers because their petals hang down, making the dark central cone extremely prominent. They can grow from 60cm (24in) to 180cm (72in) tall, so there is one for every situation, but taller varieties may need staking. They are easy to grow, thriving almost anywhere in full sun and a reasonably fertile, moist soil.

Some will also do well in partial shade. Smaller types such as R. fulgida deamii are ideal used in fiery displays with crocosmias and red-hot pokers, while larger types such as R. 'Herbstsonne' do well at the back of a border and act as a foil for wall-trained late-flowering clematis.

Other good varieties include R. fulgida sullivantii 'Goldsturm', which has so many flowers it has almost a solid effect, and R. fulgida speciosa. Many flower right through to October and once flowering is over, cut the plants down to ground level in late autumn.


Good enough to eat - Growing lemons

The sight of lemon groves in warm Mediterranean countries could leave British gardeners green with envy, but it is possible to grow your own lemon trees in pots on a sunny patio, as long as you keep them in a conservatory in winter.

You can buy these evergreens for growing in pots at any time of year. Don't be in a hurry to repot plants as they like to be slightly pot-bound and don't expose them to any dramatic change in conditions because they sensitive.

The watering regime is important. Do not water them little and often. They need a good soaking when the compost is almost dry and that watering regime needs to be repeated each time it reaches that stage. Try to water them with rain water or filtered water, as lemons don't like the lime in tap water.

While they are growing they need feeding regularly with a citrus feed available in garden centres.

When you take them in over the cooler months, they will still need good light, ideally in a conservatory, and are unlikely to survive in temperatures below 7C (45F). They will need some humidity and also ventilation, so if it's not too cold, open the windows.

When the weather warms up in June, put them outside on a sheltered patio where they can enjoy summer rain and some sun.

Plants should be repotted only when the pot is really crammed with roots, using citrus compost or John Innes no 2 with about a quarter of lime-free potting grit. Good varieties include 'Meyer's Lemon', a reliable type which has some tolerance to cold and can flower all year round, and 'Lemonade', a compact type which produces medium-sized fruit.


Top buy

Anyone sowing seeds in autumn should look out for Seed Pantry's newly-launched practical kits to grow organic vegetables.

The Autumn Veg Seeds Starter Pack contains seeds and eco-friendly equipment to grow pak choi, chard, Oriental spicy leaves and winter hardy salad onions, plus dibblets, mini compost disks and labels. Priced at £26, they are available from www.seedpantry.co.uk.

Two other kits, The Autumn Veg Taster Pack (£12.95) and The Autumn Veg Seeds Kit (£5.75), also feature in the range. Seeds in all three kits grow well outside in sheltered positions and can be planted from August through to October for best results.


What to do this week

:: Give potatoes a boost by dusting fertiliser between the rows and hoeing in.

:: Pick over bedding dahlias to remove any seedheads.

:: Support fruit tree branches as fruit ripens.

:: Earth up French beans to the bottom leaves and feed weekly with liquid manure until the crop is finished.

:: Remove old flowerheads of herbaceous plants which have finished and trim back as needed, to tidy.

:: Plant dwarf bulbous irises for winter colour.

:: Peg down non-flowering shoots of carnations into the soil to root.

:: Pick dried flowerheads and seedheads from poppies, nigella and eryngiums. Hang upside down in bunches in a dry, airy room.

:: Once plums have been picked, prune back side shoots to three leaves and cut out dead wood.

:: Sow cyclamen seed to raise indoor flowering pot plants.

:: In cold areas, sow hardy annuals to be overwintered outdoors and protect them in the winter with horticultural fleece.

:: Give outdoor tomatoes a light dressing of sulphate of potash to encourage ripening.

:: Plant daffodils unless you are planting them in beds which cannot be cleared of summer annuals until September.