Get tender plants and tubers safely under cover – Garden advice by Glasgow’s tree pruners
Lift dahlias and cannas before the first frost
Dahlia, canna and begonia tubers survive a light frost on the leaves above ground, but struggle during a hard freeze.
The blackened foliage after that first frost is your cue to move fast.
Cut the blackened stems back to a few inches once frost has caught them, then lift the tuber carefully with a fork and shake off loose soil without washing it.
Let dahlia and canna tubers dry somewhere frost-free and airy for a few days before storing them in barely damp compost or newspaper over winter, checked every few weeks for rot.
A tuber that overwinters well simply picks up next June where it left off, without the cost of buying new stock every spring.
Protect anything else tender on the patio
Fuchsias, pelargoniums and tender ferns on the patio need moving under cover just as urgently.
Bring them indoors to a bright windowsill, an unheated porch or a greenhouse.
Treat any house plants that spent summer outdoors the same way, and check them over for slugs and other hitchhikers before they come back in.
Keep the greenhouse going through October
Sow winter salads while there’s still light
An unheated greenhouse in October still earns its keep.
Tomatoes and chillies are slowing down but often still ripening.
There’s still a window to sow winter salad leaves, lamb’s lettuce, land cress and mustard greens among them, while there’s enough light for germination.
Spring cabbage can go in around the same time, and so can garlic, an easy win for an otherwise empty bed that crops next summer with almost no attention over winter.
Sow earlier in the month rather than later. Days shorten fast over the month, and germination slows right along with them.
Ventilate to keep fungal disease out
Mild October days still call for ventilating the greenhouse rather than sealing it shut.
A warm, damp, still atmosphere is exactly what grey mould and other fungal diseases need to take hold.
Open vents on anything above about 10°C, then close up again as the temperature drops in the afternoon.
Water sparingly from here on, and always in the morning.
Leaves and compost left sitting wet overnight can attract fungal problems.
Check for pests hiding in the last of the summer growth before you clear it. Whitefly and red spider mite especially favour the dry conditions under glass.
Cold, waterlogged compost rots roots fast, so give pots and borders both good drainage before the weather turns wet.
Finish the lawn and deal with fallen leaves
Rake little and often
Most of the lawn’s serious work happens in September.
If you scarified, aerated and fed the grass back then, October mostly means staying on top of what the autumn trees drop on it as growth slows for the year.
Leaves falling steadily from now until November smother grass fast if left in a thick layer.
Rake them off or go over the lawn with a leaf blower little and often, rather than waiting for one big weekend clear-up.
Make leaf mould and mulch from fallen leaves
Autumn leaves are too useful to bin.
Collect leaves as you go and pack them damp into a spare compost bin or a punctured bin bag.
Left alone for a year or two, the dead leaves break down into leaf mould, a crumbly, soil-improving material that does more for heavy clay than most bagged composts.
Mixed into a compost heap already working on kitchen and garden waste, they rot faster alongside grass clippings, soft prunings or a little manure than they would in a leaf pile on their own.
Once borders are cut back, a layer of mulch, bark chips, spent mushroom compost or well-rotted manure spread over bare soil protects it from winter rain and gives the worst weeds less of a head start come spring.
Divide and tidy the borders around your garden
Divide congested perennial clumps
Herbaceous perennials that have finished flowering for the year can come down now, though it’s worth leaving anything still structurally interesting, sedum heads and ornamental grasses especially, standing through the first frosts rather than cutting every border back to bare soil.
Dead foliage that’s collapsed into a wet mat is the exception. Left in place, it smothers the crown of the plant underneath.
October is also a good month to divide congested clumps of hardy perennials.
Lift the whole thing with a fork, split it into two or three healthy sections, and replant them further apart. You get free plants for next spring and better flowering from the originals.
Perennial weeds like dandelion and bindweed are worth digging out at the same time, while the ground’s still soft enough to get the whole root.
Fill gaps with bulbs and winter colour
Where summer bedding has gone over, clear it and replace it with winter pansies, wallflowers and cyclamen. These spring bedding stalwarts keep colour going in a border right through the coldest months.
Get any spring bulbs still waiting in their bags into the ground before the soil turns properly cold.
Crocus and other early bulbs planted in October still have time to establish, even if you missed the September window.
Tulips actually prefer this colder soil, though, and are better planted from now into November rather than earlier.
Harvest and store the last of the fruit
Pick and store apples and pears
Apples and pears usually finish ripening in October.
Cup the fruit and twist gently, and if it comes away easily with the stalk attached, it’s ready.
Late varieties can hang on into November. Check trees every few days instead of stripping them all at once.
Only store fruit that’s completely undamaged. One bruised or split apple can affect the whole harvest.
Lay fruit out so it isn’t touching, somewhere cool, dark and frost-free.
Check stored fruit every couple of weeks, pulling out anything showing signs of rot before it spreads.
Harvest pumpkins before the first frost
Pumpkins and winter squash are ready once the skin’s hardened enough to resist a fingernail and the stem’s started to dry and shrivel, which for most carving varieties lines up neatly with Halloween.
Cut them with a good length of stem still attached rather than snapping it off. A torn stem is usually where rot gets started in storage.
If your fruit trees need cutting back, that’s a winter job once they’re dormant.
However, if your pear or apple tree loses it leaves due to the cold Scottish weather, it may be possible to begin pruning late October.
Look after the garden’s wildlife
Feed and shelter garden birds and hedgehogs
Temperatures start to drop fast through October, and natural food gets scarce for birds in your garden well before winter really sets in.
Algae and old seed husks build up fast in bird feeders and bird baths, spreading disease among birds crowding round a single feeder.
Clean both out now.
Top feeders up as hedgerow berries and insects thin out, and keep water ice-free once the cold arrives.
Net garden ponds too if you haven’t already. Decomposing leaves foul the water that fish and other wildlife need over winter.
A hedgehog looking for somewhere to spend winter will happily use a quiet corner of a garden, whether that’s a log pile, a gap under a shed, or leaves left in a border. Resist the urge to tidy every corner before the winter ahead really bites.
If you’re planning a bonfire, check it for sleeping hedgehogs before you light it.
Protect fruit trees from winter moth
Fruit trees benefit from grease bands around the trunks this month too, a sticky band that stops female winter moths from climbing up to lay eggs that would otherwise hatch into caterpillars eating next spring’s blossom.
A grease band takes five minutes to fit, and it’s a far smaller job than dealing with a tree stripped of blossom by caterpillars come spring.
Frequently Asked Questions on Autumn Gardening Jobs
What are the most important October garden jobs?
Lifting tender tubers before the first frost matters more than anything else this month. One cold night can undo a full season of dahlias or cannas. After that, keeping on top of fallen leaves and protecting the greenhouse from damp cover most of what an October garden needs.
Is October too late to plant spring bulbs?
No. Daffodils and crocus are better planted in September, but tulips actually prefer the colder soil that October and November bring, since planting them too early raises the risk of tulip fire disease. Aim to get them in by the end of November.
Do I need to heat my greenhouse in October?
Most unheated greenhouses cope fine through October without extra heat, as long as tender crops and plants move out before a hard frost. A greenhouse still holds several degrees above outside temperatures on a still night, usually enough for hardy winter salads.
Should I cut everything back in October?
No, and cutting every border back to bare soil does more harm than good. Leave seed heads, ornamental grasses and hollow stems standing through winter for insects and birds, and save the hard cutting back for late winter.
How should I care for my lawn in October?
Most of the serious lawn work, scarifying, aerating and feeding, is best done in September while the soil’s still warm. In October, focus on keeping fallen leaves off the grass rather than starting a full renovation this late in the year.
Not enough weekends left before winter?
Between lifting tubers, ventilating the greenhouse and getting the last of the fruit in, October’s checklist rarely clears itself in a single dry weekend.
Our grounds maintenance plans cover exactly this kind of gap, from a single overgrown border to a whole garden that’s fallen behind for a season or two.
We’re Scotland’s award-winning, all-in-one landscaping team, so the same certified arborists and landscapers who plan a new border can come back every month to keep it looking the way it did the day we finished.
Book a free garden consultation and we’ll tell you honestly what your garden needs before the weather properly turns.
Call us on 07946 322717 or get in touch online, and we’ll fit a visit in around whatever’s urgent this month.