Important Autumn Gardening Tips

As much as we love the summer months, before you know it the autumn will be here. Even if the sun disappears during autumn, you still need to take care of your garden, especially before the weather drops in temperature. We have some handy autumn gardening tips for you to bear in mind.

• Tidy up: The autumn months are the perfect opportunity to tidy up your garden and collect unwanted and dead plant life. This can be added to your compost heap and be re-used later on. Once your garden is looking tidier you can lay a nice thick layer of compost down while adding some bark in there for good measure.
• Look after your pond: If you have a pond in your garden it is important you keep on top of the amount of leaves that falls into it. The autumn brings an increase of leaves; leaving them in your pond can cause problems to your ponds filter. You can avoid this problem by investing in a pond net and weighing it down with rocks or bricks. This netting will help you collect the leaves easier, adding them to your compost heap for something useful.
• Garden equipment: Make sure all of your gardening tools are cleaned thoroughly before being put into hibernation. It's also a good idea to give your lawn mower a servicing during the autumn or winter months, as this is when you will be using it the least.
• Clean your greenhouse: Autumn is a great time to give your greenhouse a clean-up. By doing so before the winter months, you may avoid nasty pests and diseases harming your plants. Before you begin sweeping up any plant waste, remove all of your plants first then you can clean your greenhouse thoroughly with a friendly disinfectant. Remember to keep it open or well ventilated until it's completely dry.
• Maintain the lawn: Although our summers can be very unpredictable, if the weather has been particularly warm then your lawn will need a little bit of TLC and preparation for autumn and winter. If you have found moss the best thing to do is to use a moss killer on your lawn. To remove the dead moss, use a lawn rake to collect any moss or thatch (old grass clippings). Improving your lawns drainage for the autumn is useful too, simply use a garden fork and push into the ground to create air holes. Apply sand to the top of your lawn as this will fill into the holes, providing air and water into your lawn.

We hope these tips have been useful and prepare you for the autumn ahead.