How lush and amazing your garden will look next Spring relies a lot on what you can get done in Autumn to withstand the harsh winter weather. Planting bulbs, taking out all the weeds and conditioning the soil should be at the top of your list for your garden to flourish.
Here’s our list Autumn Gardening Tips
It can be a huge job but after setting aside a few weekends in March, April and May to tackle the garden it makes the task more manageable.
1. Weeding
Weeds can take over the garden in a flash, so it’s important to get rid of them as soon as they pop up.
While you’re at it, you should remove any plants that are past there summer best and any other green waste. This is especially important for old fruit, as the dreaded fruit fly is a pest you don’t want to attract.
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2. Condition Soil
After you remove all the weeds and waste, it’s time to feed the soil and get it ready for new plants.
Using either compost or manure, generously spread all over the garden beds. Also, add a little lime or dolomite to sweeten the soil it. Next, grab your gardening fork and turn over the soil so that it looks light and fluffy with no hard bits. Once you’ve worked through all of the soil, leave it for a week at least before planting anything.
3. Lawns
Your lawns will be loving the increased rainfall that’s just around the corner. To make sure they get a good enough drench use a garden fork to make holes for water and fertiliser to soak in. Your lawn loves to feed at this time so you should also give it some lime or dolomite to sweeten it up before it gets cold again.
4. Pruning
Now is the time to prune back any summer shrubs, hedges and plants that are looking a little tired. This way they’re in a healthy state to grow and flower when in season again.
5. Planting
With the soil still warm and rainfall increasing you should prepare clippings, plant bulbs and maintain your veggie garden. If you would like a bright and colourful garden in spring, you should plant spring flower bulbs such as daffodils.
Likewise, with your vegetable garden, it’s important to prep the bed before you plant seedlings by raking the soil. Your cool-season veggies to plant are spinach, silverbeet, beetroot, onions, beans, kale, lettuce and cauliflower.
It’s also a good time to add some flavour to your vegetable garden with some herbs such as coriander, rocket, parsley and chives.
Read more about vegetable gardening in Autumn.
6. Mulching
To protect your garden over the harsh winter months you’ll need to mulch for some insulation and extra cover. Just make sure that you’ve removed all the weeds before you mulch and that it sits about 5-10mm thick to have adequate coverage.
7. Potted Plants
Bring your potted plants indoors before it gets too cold. This will not only protect them but also bring some lovely greenery into your living area.
8. Start Composting
With leaves falling and pruning in autumn, it’s the perfect time to start composting. It’s the best and most cost-effective way to add nutrients back into your garden. Mixing together leaves, fertiliser, fruit/veggie scraps, clippings and water you can make your own compost quite easily.