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If you’re lucky enough to have a fruit tree to your garden you will have probably already gathered on your apples and pears, but when there’s still a pile of windfalls under your tree now’s the time to clear them away.

Once apples, pears and plums get brown rot, in the event you leave them decaying at the soil the disease will lie within the ground – so clear them away and burn them.

That goes for leaves with black rot, too.

Any mummified fruit ought to be faraway from the tree – a difficulty that regularly affects plum trees – because these will affect next year’s growth, and also you should clear away leaves regularly in order that slugs and snails don’t bed down in them for the winter.

Talking of pests, you’ll be able to protect your fruit trees from the feminine winter moths that lay their eggs in apple, pear, plum and cherry trees by attaching sticky grease bands to the tree trunks before the tip of October.

This is to forestall the wingless female moths that emerge from pupae inside the soil in November, from crawling up the tree to the branches.

Just because the spring blossom and leaves burst open the eggs hatch into caterpillars, providing a timely feast for them.

They also eat the leaves of alternative trees and shrubs, including roses, before crawling back into the soil in June to pupate and the cycle begins another time.

Don’t forget to place grease bands around tree stakes in case your fruit trees are still young enough to be tied to at least one, and you’ll also spray the trees once buds appear but before the blossoms open.

Look for sprays with the chemical deltramethrin in, but word that using chemicals on food may cause illnesses.

An alternative is pyrethrum, that’s present in organic sprays, otherwise you can cover the bottom underneath your fruit trees to check out to avoid the moths crawling out in November, or the caterpillars burrowing backpedal in June.

October may be the most effective month to plant new fruit trees, but be sure you check the rootstock size so the tree won’t grow too big in your garden.

As a coarse guide the M27 to about 5ft, the M9 grows to about 8ft and M26 to about 10ft, but expert advise from a expert nursery is usually appropriate.

Persistent rain, coupled with poor drainage, has left many UK gardeners with soggy borders and troublesome areas where “normal” plants struggle to manage. But instead of battling against the weather, growing bog plants and other moisture lovers is usually a creative solution. 

Site and situation

Most moisture-loving plants want a sunny situation so in case your problem patch is in partial shade, your choice might be more limited. 

Grand designs

For a natural-looking bog garden, edge puddles in low-lying areas, natural depressions or sunken hollows in lawns with sand or stones. If you want to run a path through it, choose bark chippings or sink railway sleepers into the bottom (tack over wire netting for grip). Make a handrail from rustic poles.

For a modern look, excavate a geometric shape, comparable to a circle or rectangle, and line the perimeters with natural stone. Make paths from slatted timber and incorporate a “bridge” over a boggy hollow to feature a transformation of level. 

Soil preparation

If the world is boggy all year round, work in many well-rotted compost or peat-free soil improver any time between now and planting time in spring. This incorporates air spaces and improves the moisture-holding capacity so it won’t dry out in summer. Improve the feel of heavy clay by digging in a bucketful of organic matter per square yard.

In a local that dries out in summer, dig out the soil to a depth of 18in to 2ft. Line with a sheet of heavy-duty plastic to within 6in of the soil’s surface then refill with a mix of topsoil and organic matter. The plastic will create a reservoir that keeps the soil moist during dry spells so in case you do ought to water over summer, the water won’t drain away. But when we’ve got another wet winter like this one, surplus water will spill excessive of the lining and forestall the bog garden changing into a pond.

Choose your plants

In winter, do soil preparation and installed paths or other hard landscaping, then start planting in spring as moisture-loving plants become available. April is one of the best time, though pot-grown plants could be added all the way through the summer even if they’re in flower.

For a wild and natural look: choose native moisture-loving species and their close cultivated relatives together with lythrum, lysimachia, epilobium, marsh marigold, Equisetum scirpoides, flag iris, gunnera and bogbean. 

For a cultivated/glamorous look: choose monarda, sanguisorba (pink, fluffy bottlebrush flowers), hosta, astilbe, rheum, Primula rosea, P denticulata and candelabra primulas comparable to P japonica and P pulverulenta.

For partial shade: choose hosta, primrose and ferns, especially ostrich fern and soleirolia (the bottom-hugging, mind-your-own-business plant).

Winter interest

Most bog gardens look their best from mid- to late summer so in winter, when the perennials have died down, you’ll want to add visual interest with a sculpture, gnarled tree stump or natural-looking ornaments. There are plants for winter effect: if space permits, plant red-, orange- or yellow-stemmed shrubby willows and either coppice them every two to 3 years in spring, or grow one as a tree and pollard (prune) it regularly so it has a trunk topped with a twig of young shoots. 

Hydrangeas will thrive within the damp area round the bog garden. Their late flowers will dry out naturally at the plant and last well into autumn. 

Make full use of early spring species corresponding to marsh marigold (and its cultivated varieties with double flowers), early primulas and peltiphyllum (pink flowers in spring before the leaves appear and in autumn, large saucers on stick-shaped leaves that tackle colourful tints). 

Plant of the week

White forsythia 

If your garden needs a midwinter pick-me-up, white forsythia, or Abeliophyllum distichum, is a good choice. This unusual deciduous wall shrub has a delicious fragrance that some people say reminds them of almonds or marzipan. Plant it somewhere sheltered so the wind won’t disperse the scent. The flowers are forsythia-like in size and shape, but white to pale pink in colour with a centre full of gold stamens. Left to its own devices, the shrub is very floppy and straggly, so it’s best trained flat against a wall. It could reach 8ft by 8ft, although you are able to easily prune it to suit available space.

Its season of glory runs from now (counting on the severity of the winter) until late March, within which time each stem would be lined with flowers. Abeliophyllum isn’t difficult to grow – all it needs in all fairness well-drained soil and entire sun. And because it conveniently has just a thin covering of leaves in summer, its branches make the appropriate support framework for a summer-flowering clematis (one of several sort which is reduce hard in winter). 

IT WAS special somehow – the close proximity to the River Wharfe and Middleton Woods imbued it with a type of magic.

It had a front garden which was nothing greater than a square of grass (lawn is quite too grand a word) surrounded by a narrow border only a few feet wide. It’ll have won no prizes inside the design stakes, but each May it entranced me for one simple reason – granddad planted his borders with wallfowers.

The names remain with me still: ‘Cloth of Gold’, ‘Vulcan’ and ‘Fire King’. But for all their brilliant colours – bright yellow, orange and rich, deep crimson – it’s the fragrance I remember so well; rich and sweet, a type of dolly-mixture fragrance, and when your nose is simply three feet from the bottom the intensity is unforgettable.

Sadly, few folk bother with wallfowers today, but we actually should, for they may be trouble-free plants which, especially when planted with tulips, provide a spring display that has a double whammy of both scent and colour, not provided by tulips alone.

In those far of days, granddad would raise his wallfowers in rows at the nearby allotment, sowing the seed in May, transplanting the young wallfowers to a much broader spacing in July after which digging them as much as plant out within the garden come September and October.

You can sometimes still buy them today in nurseries, garden centres and greengrocers’ shops, tied into bundles of ten or 20. They’re going to look a little bit sad – even sadder when you’ve got planted them – for the leaves will remain wilted and foppy for per week or so. But soaked overnight in a bucket of water, puddled in, and encouraged by mild, damp autumn weather, they’re going to soon pick up and provides their the whole following April and can.

Mostly nowadays they’re sold as container-grown plants. This avoids your entire wilting and the unhappy appearance, however it does lead them to dearer.

Whichever state yow will discover them in, plant them a foot apart and plant your tulips between them afterwards, choosing varieties which are as a minimum 18in (45cm) tall in order that their flowers will open above those of the wallfowers.

Mixed wallfowers are offered more often than single colours, and yet single colours offer the foremost impact when planted with a contrastingly coloured tulip. An edging of forget-me-nots will give the entire planting a sense of being surrounded by water or sky.

So don’t spurn them; plant your wallfowers now for a spring to bear in mind.

The English Heritage site next to Lincoln Cathedral is offering guided tours of the vineyard by Site Manager Samantha-Jane Gordon, who will even offer a potted history of what was the most important ecclesiastical buildings in England.

And should you really like what you notice Samantha-Jane would be delighted in case you join her band of vineyard helpers.

“Volunteers will receive training about every stage of the expansion of the vines,” says Samantha-Jane. They are going to also receive an English Heritage uniform and, after 60 hours of volunteering, a free English Heritage pass.

“I have 12 volunteers now, but only four or five who come regularly,” explains Samantha-Jane. “If i’ll get 20 or 25 at the list that will be brilliant.”

The vines were planted in 1972 and were a present from Lincoln’s twin town in Germany, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, to commemorate the 900th anniversary of Lincoln Cathedral.

The white grape vines – Madeleine Sylvaner; Muller Thurgau and Ortega – are from the north side of the Rhine, and once they were planted they formed essentially the mostsome of the most northerly vineyard in England.

They thrived until 2007, but then the care arrangement ran out and the vines were left to their very own devices.

“When i began the job in 2011 I took it upon myself to get another care contract in place,” says Samantha-Jane. “I thought it was this type of huge waste. It’s such an instructional resource and the sole vineyard on any English Heritage property.

“Over the past two years I actually have got a partnership with a native vineyards, Three Sisters Vineyard in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, and the landlord has given me rather a lot of educating and he helps us harvest, and produces wine for us.”

Unfortunately this year’s harvest aren’t any use for the reason that vines has been hit by powdery mildew.

“It’s because they haven’t been taken care of and there hasn’t been anything done to combat the disease,” says Samantha-Jane.

She is spraying the vines thrice a year with a sulphur and zinc-based product, although she would favor an organic alternative. “Hopefully we can get an excellent crop next year.”

Samantha-Jane’s vineyard tours will occur every Sunday in October at 11am, 1pm and 3pm, and there’s also a up to date garden to look.

A group of hornbeam trees has been planted in a geometrical design within the old kitchen garden, and are a blaze of orange and brown at that time.

The Palace should be holding its own Christmas market from December 5 to eight, that’s an identical weekend that Lincoln holds its famous Christmas Market inside the town.

Entrance to the Palace, garden and vineyards is free to English Heritage members. Non-members pay £4.60, or £4.10 for concessions and £2.80 for youngsters.

• For more info visit www.english-heritage.org.uk

Like many other gardens in west Scotland it has a dramatic setting, with mountains within the distance and fabulous views over Loch Fyne, but its claim to fame is an historic selection of champion trees.

These include Britain’s tallest tree, a Grand Fir (Abies grandis) it is greater than 210ft high (64metres) and Europe’s mightiest conifer, a eu Silver Fir tree (Abies alba) with a girth of greater than 32ft (10metres).

These were planted in around 1875, when Alexander Bell was demonstrating his new invention – the phone – to Queen Victoria and are among several trees brought back from overseas by plant hunters for the Callander family within the 19th century.

Other champions at Ardkinglas are a Patagonian Cypress (Fitzroya cupressoides), Hinoki Cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa), Western Red Cedar (Thuya plicata) and Jeffrey’s Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana var. jeffreyi).

Winter is an effective time to review trees, whether or not they are evergreen giants or native deciduous trees stripped in their leaves so that you can see their structure clearly.

At Ardkinglas there are various woodland paths to explore and red squirrels to identify inside the tree tops.

In January a set of yankee witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) perfumes the air and in February the primary of the Rhododendrons flowers could be seen, with other Rhododendron species blooming each month until June.

February also sees primroses emerge some of the undergrowth and there are acres of bluebells in June.

Ardkinglas is open daily all year round from dawn until dusk and makes an annual donation to the charity Scotland’s Gardens. Entrance is £4.50, or £3.50 for pensioners. Children under 16 can visit at no cost, and season tickets come in.

For information on how to define the gardens visit www.ardkinglas.com

And for more info at the work of Scotland’s Gardens, which raises money for medical and horticultural charities, visit www.scotlandsgardens.org

All too often we’re dispose of growing plants because we haven’t the room. Trees and shrubs mainly seem far too threatening to introduce to a small garden.

But if grown in containers, other than inside the ground, their growth isn’t just curtailed by virtue of a limited root run, but they are often moved to the fore once they are enjoying their main season of interest, then shifted into the background once their display fades. They’ve got the flexibility to present the garden an extra have a look at different times of year.

This is especially true of plants which are at their best in the course of the winter months – beauties like witch hazel and winter-flowering honeysuckle.

I am a fantastic fan of plants in containers, with one proviso: the containers must be large. This isn’t because i’m inquisitive about doing things on a grand scale; it’s for practical, in addition aesthetic, reasons.

Let’s consider the aesthetics first. A rash of small containers – some terracotta, some plastic and a few ceramic – always looks messy. There isn’t a overall pattern to them. The sensible considerations are more important.

Small containers dry out in hot weather and usually tend to freeze in prolonged cold spells. What’s more, the compost in a small pot will rapidly run out of nutrients and the plants (when not thirsty or chilled to the bone) will look miserable and stunted.

Strong winds are inclined to blow small containers over or even smash them, so the complete exercise can prove costly. Larger containers may cost a little more, but they are going to last more and grow significantly better plants.

Half a dozen of them, chosen to enrich each other, may have rather more impact than a sprinkling of small ones. Position them in groups or as sentinels flanking a path or a flight of steps and you’ll create instant impact.

You can plant them up now, using seasonal plants which includes witch hazel or evergreens like cones of yew. Other containers may be planted up with seasonal displays of hyacinths and dwarf narcissi which includes Tête-à-tête – available now in pots – winter-flowering heathers and pansies.

When it involves compost i take advantage of a mix of equal parts John Innes No.3 and a peat-free multipurpose mix, which offers weight for stability and an honest ‘open’ structure to avoid compaction.

Position the containers before you fill them with compost (to prevent straining your back) and regulate them for watering throughout the winter. They won’t need weekly liquid feeding until spring.

Even now, in winter, a number of well-chosen pots and tubs, at the side of bright residents, will cheer you up.

TOP TIP 

If the elements is intensely cold, try grouping planted containers together next to a south-facing wall for cover. Check pots are becoming adequate rainwater, though, and if not then water regularly.

Don’t miss Alan’s gardening column today and each day within the Daily Express. For additional info on his range of gardening products, visit alantitchmarsh.com.

IN OCTOBER and November the soil remains relatively warm and the bulbs will establish good root systems before the winter sets in, so the sooner you get garlic into the floor the easier the outcomes can be, although you are able to stick with it planting garlic right up until February.

Of course, during winter you have to protect the garlic with a cloche or horticultural fleece, and in case you live north of the Midlands it’s probably best to plant the bulbs into pots and keep them in a chilly frame or sheltered spot until early spring, once you can plant out the seedlings.

That is usually definitely the right thing to do in case your vegetable plot gets waterlogged over winter.

Tempting because it is to only use garlic bought together with your weekly groceries, you’ll have more success with specially-prepared virus-free bulbs out of your local garden centres.

Split up the garlic cloves and plant them in well-draining soil in order that they won’t rot away, in a row about 4ins (10cm) apart, and in a niche so that you can be sunny enough for them to ripen in time for harvesting next June or July.

Use an analogous method as you are going to for planting onion or shallot sets: ensure the tips of the bulbs are only visible.

If you’re planting them in modules, or preferably small pots to provide the roots quite a lot of room, fill the containers with multi-purpose compost then push in a garlic clove in order that all however the tip is roofed.

Don’t let the soil or compost around your garlic dry out, particularly between now and December when the roots are growing and from next spring when the brand new garlic head will start to plump out – or the garlic you harvest won’t be much bigger than those you planted.

They must be able to dig up from next June, although possible leave them in until August in order that they will hopefully get even bigger.

Choose a dry day to dig them up and, whenever you can, leave them out within the sun for a number of days to get them super-dry.

It’s best to try this on a wire tray, so there’s numerous airflow around them – and so that you can take them inside if the elements changes.

And in case you do find you could have supermarket-bought garlic that grows a green shoot, there’s no harm in planting it out to look what happens! 

Most people only associate bedding plants with summer, particularly the white alyssum, blue lobelia and red salvia that traditionally characterised the big bedding displays of municipal parks.

But commonly bedding plants are only annuals – plants that, once sown, will germinate and flower then set seed and die multi function year – and really useful they’re too.

Of course, sometimes bedding plants are biennials, which just implies that their growing cycle takes two years rather than one, and simply to complicate things further, some perennials (plants that flower and grow for several years) are treated as annuals and replaced annually.

A prime example is the pansy, a tremendous plant if only because there are dozens of sorts, and essentially the most useful ones are the winter-flowering pansies.

These will cheer up a garden even at the dullest winter day, because they were specially bred to flower in very limited light.

You should buy them out of your local nursery or garden centre now because October is the correct time to plant them, while the soil remains warm enough for his or her roots to become well established.

Choose bright colours similar to creamy white, yellow and pink, because dark flowers don’t happen so well in winter, and plant them where you can find them out of your kitchen or lounge windows – so that you don’t should be within the garden to determine them.

Pansies are short-lived perennials, so if you happen to plant winter pansies they’re prone to keep on flowering all summer, especially in the event you deadhead them to encourage repeat flowering. They could even make it into next year.

And in the event you choose to plant your winter pansies in patio pots instead of within the ground, don’t forget that containers can dry out even in winter – so keep them watered if we hit another dry spell.

MILD weather to this point q4 implies that some gardeners within the South and West are still enjoying the previous few sweet pea flowers growing of their garden or on their allotment.

This can be because they took care to maintain them well watered over summer, or it will just be end result of the the unusually warm September and early October, however may additionally be because they sowed their sweet peas this time last year.

So it’s worth investing a couple of pounds in a pack of sweet pea seeds to plant now in pots in all however the very coldest parts of england, because seeds sown now turns into much stronger plants than those sown within the spring.

Sweet peas are easy to grow from seed and when you overwinter them in a sheltered cold frame they are going to be well sooner than the sport by next March or April, that is once you can sow seeds straight into the floor.

There are a number of tips to aid seed germination for cultivars that experience an especially hard seed coat.

In order for the sweet pea seeds to germinate the coat has to collapse inside the damp soil in order that the roots and shoot can develop.

To help this process you should use a pointy knife to make a shallow cut within the seed coat opposite the “eye”, making certain you don’t damage the seed beneath it.

Alternatively you should use the safer approach to scratching the seed’s surface with an emery board.

Then fill pots with compost and water it, giving the compost time to empty before planting the seeds about two inches apart.

Make sure the seeds are covered with about an inch of compost then firm down the compost and water them again.

The seeds will only germinate if the temperature is around 15C, so that you can have to maintain them on a windowsill for a couple of days to attain this.

But when they have began to publish shoots move the pots for your cold frame, greenhouse or a sheltered spot near a wall or fence.

This will stop them from growing too fast and inspire strong roots and side shoots.

If the elements gets icy over winter keep the pots covered – despite the fact that it’s just with a wooden fruit box covered in bubble wrap or horticultural fleece.

They could be able to plant out from March, reckoning on the elements, but although your autumn-sown sweet peas don’t get into the floor until April they’ll still be much stronger – with longer stems and more side shoots – than any sweet peas sown within the spring.

New for the 2013/2014 season are Mr Fothergill’s Sweet Pea Sir Henry Cecil, named after the racehorse trainer.

These purple and white mottled flowers had been produced by New Zealand sweet pea breeder Dr Keith Hammett, who was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Johnsons Seeds has also announced a tie-up with Plant Heritage for the Johnsons World Botanics seed range 2013/2014, which incorporates a sweet pea called Lathyrus ‘Pink Pearl’.

Johnsons will donate 25p to Plant Heritage’s Threatened Plants Appeal for each packet of Pink Pearl that it sells.

For additional information visit mr-fothergills.co.uk, johnsons-seeds.com and plantheritage.com

WHEN you believe of Japanese maples, most of the people ponder flaming red and orange autumn leaves. 

So for something different, try a spread that turns yellow – worthwhile is Acer palmatum “Sango-kaku” (better known by its old name, “Senkaki”). 

This goes a very bold, brilliant yellow-gold, so it sticks out fabulously well inside the autumn garden. but its display isn’t limited to the fall. 

The show starts in spring with a flush of young leaves that open out pale orange- yellow before turning green, then in autumn they tackle their bold golden-yellow, with contrasting red leaf stalks. 

In winter after the leaves have fallen, you will find the brilliant red of the young twigs. 

It isn’t as dwarf because the popular Acer palmatum dissectum, but grows very slowly, eventually reaching around 20ft. to maintain it smaller, grow it in a container to confine the roots.