Autumn is a great time to spend in the garden. With milder days the temperature is just right to spend a weekend rejuvenating garden beds, refurbishing garden tools and planting seeds or bulbs that will blossom in spring.
It is also the best time to prepare the lawn in readiness for the dormant winter months.
You can glean a lot of advice on preparing your garden through autumn and winter from myriad gardening and horticultural websites or books. Given that we see so many beautiful gardens on display when you visit some of our major towns and cities, asking a regional expert could be the way to go.
According to Brendan Beale, team leader of intensive horticulture at the City of Greater Bendigo, autumn is the best time of year to catch up on maintenance jobs and for giving a little extra TLC to the lawn.
“Gardening can be frustrating, but it can be very rewarding,” Brendan says. “ It takes effort to achieve a good garden and autumn is one of those times when doing some work can set you up for the year.”
Tips to help you get ahead in the garden in autumn:
- Fertilise - deciduous plants will love it as they will start to store nutrients for the dormant winter months.
- Lawns - For each month of autumn it’s critical to fertilise your lawn in readiness for winter.
- Dethatch warm-season grasses, fertilise and top dress. Cool-season grasses may also need to be dethatched.
- Raise the height of your mower as longer blades of grass will protect undergrowth from frosts and a greater surface area will enhance photosynthesis to produce more sugars essential for good health.
- Hand weed lawns to rid them of winter grasses.
- Correct soil pH to ensure it is at an optimal 6.5. Add Dolomite Lime if the pH is to low or Sulphate of Ammonia if too high.
- If turf is compacted after heavy summer rains, it’s time to aerate with a pitchfork or spiky shoes to loosen the soil, or you could add a layer or gypsum to break up any clay in the subsoil.
- Create a vegetable patch - encourage children to plant veggie seedlings during school holidays and you can enjoy fresh produce at the table.
- Spray out aphids as autumn and spring are the crucial times for ridding them from the garden.
- Plant daffodil and jonquil bulbs. Jonquils will flower in winter and daffodils in spring
- Keep garden tools in prime condition. It’s also the right time to plant lavender, ferns and hydrangeas as the ground is still warm and the soil will hold moisture. Planting in autumn gives plants time to adjust to the soil and form roots ahead of the cold winter months.
- Mulch - use anything well rotted and not too fresh. Clean straw or sugar cane mulch is good. Lucerne mulch is more expensive but will put valuable nitrogen back into the soil for plants.
“Don’t over think it,” Brendan says. “Plenty of plants are resilient and tougher than what we think. (And) there is no real bad time to mulch - if you need to mulch, mulch. But first, give your garden a good soak.”
To prepare garden tools, Bunnings national garden tools buyer Jackson Lam says:
- To remove rust, apply penetrating oil to the affected area and rub with steel wool; to prevent rust from re-forming lightly rub extra oil on the tools after use.
- Sharpen pruners and disinfect them regularly with a cleaning agent and sharpen the blades before use to ensure a neat cut every time.
- Clean your mower and replace spark plugs and blades in readiness for spring growth. Consider giving the mower a professional service.
- To prevent damage to tools from exposure to moisture, keep them elevated inside using a tool organiser, such as a wall storage unit.