If summer is ‘Broadway Showtime’ then Autumn is for those all-important ‘rehearsals’. Autumn, and by that I mean October and November in particular, is often considered by gardeners as the month for pruning. – But there’s actually a lot more to preparing your garden for the winter than simply cutting back. In this article I provide a closer look at how (and when) to prepare your garden to maximise your summer display.
During the summer months at Winsford Walled Gardens I will periodically make detailed notes about plants, schemes and new ideas. They include things like relocating individual plants which are suffering from overcrowding or because they have grown too big and are blocking their neighbours from view. In some cases, the colour, leaf combination just needs changing. But whatever the reason summer is when the new ideas are noted and autumn is when the they’re put into effect.
My winter prepartions begin during the first week of October just as the last of the yellow heleniums and the golden brown and russet shades of the rudbeckias are going over to make way for the purples, mauves and whites of the aster and leucanthemum daisies that follow. They consist of ten distinct yet inter-dependent stages listed below.
- ‘Tweaking’ the garden design
- Relocation of large plants
- Prepping borderline tender plants
- Hacking back – part one
- Clearance
- Forking
- New work
- Hacking back – part two
- Weeding
- Supports
The first four items should be completed before the first frost.
This Canna will 'run out of time' and not flower before the frost arrives.
1. Tweaking the garden design
This is when you make those all-important changes to your planting layout/design for next year. – Using your existing plant stock. This is the time to move those plants which are either too tall or too short for their neighbours or where you can improve on the flower colour or leaf combo – whichever. All your herbaceous plants should be included in this group. Try to avoid moving plants while they are in flower otherwise they will suffer rapid dehydration, but once the flowers start going over it’s usually OK to relocate them.
The main photo features the exotic-looking Tetrapanax paprifera ‘Rex’ that was rather cautiously established between two pittosporums. Following the demise of the Fatsia (below) this exotic plant will be relocatedto a high-profile location in the gardens.
Fatsia relocated to border background to re-grow after heavy snow smashed branches
2. Relocating the big plants
Next to be relocated are the shrubs or small trees. These are the plants which you thought would be 6ft high but have already gone way past that! Included in this group are those larger plants or trees which need ‘major surgery’ rather than gentle pruning – like the sambucus cultivars for example. This year I moved what was once an 8ft Fatsia until the weight of snow snapped branches and left me with an ugly example following major clean-up amputations. The Fatsia was relocated to the rear of a border where it cold re-grow out of sight over the next couple of years until it rises like a Phoenix behind the foreground colour.
3. Prepping your ‘borderline tender’ plants
Included in this group is everything that needs covering with frost fleece, plus borderline-tender plants such as Canna, exotic-flowering gingers (hedychiums) and Agapanthus. While these can survive a UK winter in the ground easily enough, the subsequent vagaries of a British early summer can make their flowering ‘unreliable’. By preparing these plants now and storing them in the dry their flowering periods can start as early as the first week of June and continue right through to the end of September to provide a dependable and superior show!
The actual preparation of these plants includes the gradual cessation of all watering as the foliage dies back, which is subsequently removed, during October. The aim is to have dry-ish compost on plants with no foliage or with just bare branches and stem. What you don’t want are potted plants with no foliage and wet compost when the first frost hits, as this can prove fatal. Many of these more tender plants will have no foliage and can be stored under cover in a frame, or at the back of your garage – anywhere out of the winter wet which is the big killer.
The difference is clear! Compare this flowering canna with the previous canna photo
Specimen flowering plants such as agapanthus, cannas and while they can survive a British winter, are best not left in the ground due to the vagaries of the British spring/early summer which can have a significant effect upon both when they ultimately flower and the duration of their flowering. I locate all these under cover and they do not receive a drop of water between the end of October and the end of March! They don’t need it – no foliage.
4. Hacking back – part one
The first phase of ‘hacking back’ includes a general cleanup of all your garden herbaceous material which have finished flowering. These are the plants which start from nothing at ground level and grow, flower and set seed during the summer months. Now’s the time to cut them down and compost them – they’re looking pretty yuchy by now anyway. During this time I chop back all those long and unwanted stems from my clematis and wisteria to tidy the plants and keep them close to their support. It does NOT include cutting back shrubs such as hydrangea and trees such as pittosporum and sambucus for example. Such shrubs and trees are better left with the protection their surplus summer growth can provide through the winter. The exception to this are those branches which are rubbing against each other and will do damage during winter gales – simply remove the inward-growing branch.
It is best to reach this stage of your preparations before the first frost or the beginning of November whichever comes first.
5. Clearance
By the beginning of November it’s time to clear all those late-flowering herbaceous plants, your rudbeckias, heleniums, asters and any other summer perennials to leave you with large areas of bare soil, weeds (inevitably) and your shrubs. A garden shredder is a god-send at this time and you can pick up a really good one from Lidl for around £90. A garden shredder will significantly reduce the volume of your plant material and cut it up so it composts faster.
Any plants you are fed up with or wish to clear out for any reason, now is the time to remove these. – So, by now all the plants you want to keep have been tidied up or put away for the winter. At this point it’s a good time to take a swipe at the most obvious weeds and remove them. I’m thinking of the taller nasties like rosebay willow herb, brambles, nettles, ash tree seedlings and the like, which can continue getting stronger throughout the winter. (If your mulch is thick enough even buttercups come up easily on long chains!)
Admittedly your borders will look their ‘worst’ at this time, but now they are ready for one of the most important and yet underrated jobs in the garden. . .
6. Forking
Forking your borders is a job that needs to be done but which is all-too often overlooked. So why do it you might ask? Forking the border is the quickest and most effective method of removing your weed roots. Forget chemicals – the fork and your eyes are best! (Roundup? I can’t count how many times in the past I’ve sprayed something in the summer only to fork out nice healthy white roots in the autumn – so you might as well save yur money.
At the same time forking lets all-important air deep in to your ground which is both good for your roots directly and for your worms which also help your soil (indirectly). Forking improves your drainage by breaking up the clods letting water in to the ground, rather than letting it flash-flood the surface. Never fork your ground when its wet - its uncomfortable, hard work and counter-productive. When its done, avoid walking on it and compressing the surface before the warming rays of spring arrive and new growth reappears.
7. New Work
Your garden has been put to bed for the winter. Now you can have a bit of fun and work on all those new hard-landscaping ideas you’ve been planning.
8. Hacking back – part two
The New Year has already come and gone and Valentines Day too. If Easter is coming early, it won’t be far away. . . The worst of the winter is behind you.
Now’s the time to hack back all those shrubs and climbers which you left alone earlier. The sambucus (elder), clematis, wisteria, roses, bay tree and hydrangeas for example. Be sure to make a clean sharp cut just above a developing bud.
For more detailed cultivation and pruning information on wisteria and clematis.
9. Weeding and cleaning
Get the buggers first before they get your plants! Your new spring growth is just around the corner, daffodils are out, crocus too and it’s time to have one last attack! Keep an eye open for slugs and snails and their ‘tapioca-like’ eggs while you’re at it. Get the hi-pressure jet to spring-clean your paths so their clean and safer to walk on.
10. Supports
During late March/early April you should see ‘islands’ of new growth appearing which makes locating easier. It’s an exciting time! More-so when you’ve almost certainly forgotten your planting design ‘tweaks’ in the autumn and ‘old friends’ appear in new places! Now it’s time to get out there and put up your supports for your taller plants, in just a few short weeks they will be needed.
As the daffodils go over, then is the time to plant your new introductions for the summer.
