Page 19 - ALG Issue 3 2022

...September/October/November
SCAN HERE TO VIEW A WHOLE YEAR OF MONTHLY JOBS!
FRUIT GREENHOUSE
• Harvest apples and pears as they become ready and pick the late season strawberries and raspberries to keep them producing fruit. They will keep cropping right up until the first frost.
• Complete the summer pruning of soft fruit bushes, apple and pear trees. Continue with their training and tying in.
• Wasps are attracted this time of year due to the ripening of your fruit. Hang wasp traps in fruit trees and protect any grapes from wasps with netting or mesh. But also remember that wasps are the gardener’s friend because they are major predators of aphids and caterpillars at this time of the year.
• Cooler days mean it is the perfect time to sow the seed of the Oriental vegetables. They will germinate quickly and are hardy enough to withstand the cold of winter and will provide a steady supply of fresh leaves well into the spring of next year.
• Make a sowing of hardy winter lettuce and spinach. There is still time to sow an early variety of turnip to be able to use the tops as greens.
FLOWERS
• Leave any sunflower seedheads in
place for birds
to feed on.
• Fill any
gaps with
late-
flowering
perennials,
such as
sedums, to provide nectar for pollinating insects into autumn.
• Lift a root of rhubarb for early forcing; allow the root to sit on the soil and
be subjected to a few good frosts. The crown will then be much better for forcing, and some sticks may be ready at around Christmas.
GREENHOUSE
It is
the last window for planting new strawberry beds, either from new plants
or from runners
best should be set aside for storage.
• Any late grapes should have some leaves that cover the ripening fruit
removed to allow in as much light as
possible.
• It is the last window for planting new
strawberry beds, either from new plants or from runners rooted in the summer.
•
•
Insulate your greenhouse before using it to protect your more tender plants using horticultural fleece or plastic bubble sheeting; newspaper is an excellent substitute if you lay several layers over your most precious plants whenever a frost is forecast.
It is also a good idea to wrap their pots in bubble wrap to insulate their roots.
FLOWERS
• Remove any pot saucers and raise pots up
onto feet to prevent waterlogging over winter
• Empty spent summer pots and hanging baskets, and compost the contents
FRUIT
• Now is a good time to plant new fruit trees & bushes. Soft fruit bushes can also be moved now if needed as well.
• Autumn-fruiting raspberries bear fruit on new wood, so cut down all of the old canes to the ground once they have finished fruiting, between November and March.
• Take hardwood cuttings from fruit bushes. It is very easy to do and gives you a decent-sized plant in a few years.
GREENHOUSE
• Sow a crop of your favourite variety of round seeded hardy peas in 3” to 3”/9cm pots and transplanted later
Now is a good time to plant new fruit trees and bushes
when the roots have reached the
bottom of the pot.
• Transplant any pot raised broad
beans sown earlier to somewhere sheltered and protected from cold, icy blasts. It is not too late to take a chance on a sowing of broad beans if it is done early in the month.
• Transplant October sown lettuces to grow on under cloches or frames; space them 6” or 15cms square.
FLOWERS
• Plant tulips and hyacinths in pots or in the open ground.
• Sow sweet peas and
harden off any
that were sown
last month. The colder and harder
the plants are grown the better; just keep heavy snow and winds from the young plants and don’t pinch out until after Christmas.
Allotment and Leisure Gardener 19