Garden Studios

Pull up greenhouse tomato plants and pick any remaining full-sized fruit to ripen indoors.

Start raking up fallen leaves gathering on lawns and within the corners of paths and patios.

??Check stored onions, shallots and garlic regularly and take away any which are going soft or mouldy.

Trim back standard-trained fuchsias, lavenders etc inside the conservatory to roughly reshape the rounded head and take away any dead flower heads. There’s less risk of harbouring outbreaks of grey mould.

Inside The National Trust, a 20-part series that starts on Sunday, takes viewers backstage with presenter Michael Buerk.

And one of several people showing Michael around is head gardener Amanda Thackeray, who has worked at Wordsworth House and Garden for 10 years.

Amanda takes Michael on an edible tour of the Georgian town house garden, which isn’t only organic but uses Georgian horticultural methods and plants that may were grown when the poet William Wordsworth and his sister lived there.

Amanda introduces Michael to the taste of Nasturtiums, marigolds and old herbs similar to sorrel, Welsh onions and borage.

“We just picked the flowers off the plants and had a nibble,” says Amanda, who adds: “You can eat most herb flowers.”

As well as herbs there are numerous heritage kinds of fruit and vegetables grown at Wordsworth House, that’s in Cockermouth in Cumbria.

These include apples akin to Green Up’s Pippin and Keswick Codlin, and Amanda says: “We have had one of these bumper crop of apples this year that i’ve got wheelbarrows choked with windfalls and notices asking visitors to thrill help themselves and take them home to make apple pies and crumbles.”

The whole of Wordsworth House garden is enclosed in a wall, which needed to be repaired after the 2009 floods, then within that could be a kitchen walled garden for visitors to enjoy.

“We have plenty of cabbages and the sweet peas are still going well,” says Amanda. “It is laid out like a potager with hazel poles and pea sticks. Everything is find it irresistible would were in Georgian times.

“The holly is truly nice currently since it has got a lot of berries and there are big red, orange and black rose hips at the rose bushes.”

Also looking good are the garden’s tall purple Verbena bonariensis and drifts of white phlox and the greeny-white spikes of Sanguisorba and yellow Rudbeckia.

The garden also has a Poetry Tree. Visitors can write a poem, that is laminated and hung from the tree.

“I got Michael to jot down a poem for me and that i wrote one for him,” says Amanda. “I think he enjoyed himself because he was doing things he had not done before.”

This includes making soapy liquid from soapwort for laundry clothes: “Soapwort is lovely, it has lovely little pink flowers which might be edible,” says Amanda. “All of the plant can be utilized, and the roots are used to make the soapy liquid.

“You have be cautious with them because they’re poisonous,” she warns, “but to make the soapy liquid you scrub them really clean, chop them up and boil them in rain water for 20 minutes.

“We didn’t do the most effective job – I certainly wouldn’t employ Michael as a chef,” laughs Amanda, “but after getting strained the liquid you have a soapy substance it truly is good for cleaning difficult hair and gentle fabrics.”

Amanda advises anybody curious about growing herbs to exploit an area supplier, that you will be capable of finding on the web.

But she adds: “You must also get yourself a very good book about herbs, that will identify them and know what you’re growing.”

Inside The National Trust starts on Sunday, October 6, at 12.25pm and runs weekly until February 9, with Wordsworth House featured in about 1/2 them.

There also are starring roles for the NT’s Sizergh, in Cumbria, the Wimpole Estate, in Cambridgeshire, Cragside, in Northumberland, and the Farne Islands.

For additional info visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk.

These include RHS Chelsea Flower Show medal-winners Pennard Plants of Somerset, who will display an important range of heritage and heirloom cultivars and demonstrate other ways of growing vegetables and fruit in small spaces.

There shall be free apple tasting sessions and fruit experts from RHS Garden Wisley shall be reachable to spot unusual species brought in by visitors.

The RHS’s annual Fruit & Vegetable Competition is taken very seriously by both amateur and professional entrants, who will display perfect fruit and veggies within the hope of winning an RHS medal.

Among the vegetables on show can be giant pumpkins within the ever-popular RHS Heaviest Pumpkin Competition, where professional and amateur growers compete for the head prize of £1,000.

There can also be displays from London schools that experience participated within the RHS Campaign for faculty Gardening.

The RHS Harvest Festival is on Tuesday and Wednesday October 8 and 9 at Lindley Hall in Greycoat Street, Westminster.

On Tuesday there’s one more London Harvest Festival Late event, from 6-9pm, when visitors can try their hand at pumpkin carving, sample seasonal fruit cocktails from the Midnight Apothecary, home-made cider from RHS Wisley and take a look at By Word of Mouth’s tasty pasties, The Garlic Farm’s dim sum and noodles and sample Godsell Cheese and Mrs Tee’s mushrooms.

There may also be music and standard songs from folk artist Robin Grey and his band, entertaining guests around a campfire.

For additional information visit www.rhs.org.uk/londonshows

After the quick but sweet harvest in May and June you will have been leaving them to luxuriate in a reasonably haze of ferny foliage.

This ought to be beginning to turn brown now, so that you can help your asparagus store energy for next year’s crop, you need to curb the stems now.

Wear thick gardening gloves to guard you from thorns at the stems and shear them off at ground level.

Then pull out any weeds – don’t use a hoe because asparagus roots are so near the outside – and spread garden compost excessive to behave as a mulch to avoid more weeds growing and to feed the soil for next year’s asparagus shoots.

Don’t forget that in the event you planted F1 cultivars this year it is possible for you to to reap the shoots next May. The other kind of asparagus planted this year still needs another year without being harvested before you can begin eating them.

And in the event you didn’t have time to plant asparagus this year, now’s a great time to organize the soil for an asparagus bed next year, by digging in a number of garden compost or rotted manure.

You can plant one-year-old asparagus crowns next February, March and April, or sow seeds in pots of compost in late winter.

It is healthier to soak the seeds overnight before planting them in yogurt pot-sized modules, then plant them out into the prepared bed next spring.

Don’t forget, though, you can’t harvest asparagus until its third year, unless they’re F1 cultivars!

So once the ultimate flower has faded you ought to dig up your gladdies, as Dame Edna would say.

Trim away all but a couple of inches of foliage, shaking off as much soil as you’re able to, then leave them to dry for some days until whatever remains of the stems has shrivelled.

At this stage you could trim off the old stem and pull the old corm away to bare the healthy new corm.

It’s a good option to dust them with a fungicide powder, which you’ll buy at garden centres, then you definately should store them in paper bags or in newspaper-lined boxes in a groovy, frost-free place until you are prepared to replant them in March.

Gladioli should be lifted before the primary frosts, or they are killed off by the cold, but dahlias are fine for one more month or so.

In fact, many gardens are still enjoying the ultimate fanfare of colour and the surprising form of styles and sizes that dahlias are available at the present time.

Back in fashion for several years now, you could pay £4 or £5 a tuber for them in spring, so it’s worth taking care of your stock and propagating new plants.

You don’t need to try this until the primary frosts, though, because even supposing they’ve finished flowering the dahlia tubers will still be growing.

Once the leaves and stem have gone black from the cold, cut each plant all the way down to about six inches, or 15cm, and dig up the tubers.

Shake and wipe off any excess soil, then stand them the other way up in a cardboard box in order that the moisture drains out of the hollow stems.

You can support them in some wide-holed mesh excessive of the box, or between screwed up balls of newspaper.

At this stage, if any of the tubers have gotten new shoots on them cut the tuber into slices, ensuring each has as a minimum one new shoot popping out of it.

It’s necessary to use a clean, sharp, knife or scalpel to restrict the potential of disease.

Put the cut slices in a tray, cover them with damp vermiculite and keep them in a dry, frost-free place equivalent to a shed, garage or unheated spare room.

You deserve to check them in the course of the winter, though, to maintain the vermiculite damp in the event that they seem like they’re shrivelling up.

After every week of drying out the remainder of the tubers, trim off any ragged bits of root and cut the stalks right down to about two inches, or 6cm, then sprinkle them in fungicide and pack them into the card box between layers of crumpled newspapers.

These tubers may also have to be stored in a dry, frost-free place and checked on every few weeks that allows you to cast off any that begin to rot.

In early spring, put the tubers in pots of compost in order to start growing again.

The new plants can go into your garden borders, or into bigger pots, from about May – after the chance of frosts is over.

Of course, should you live within the balmy South or South West, you’re able to not must dig up your dahlias. Often they’ll survive underground with an additional mulching of compost or shredded garden waste.

Then you simply must keep your fingers crossed that winter doesn’t turn Arctic again!

The different categories of cauliflower are almost as confusing as those for cabbages, though, and in autumn you’ll want to plant summer varieties in order that the creamy white heads are ready from about June.

Try Cauliflower Serac seeds from Marshalls (www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk), Cauliflower F1 Clapton seeds from Suttons (www.suttons.co.uk) or Cauliflower Mayflower F1 AGM seeds from DT Brown Seeds (www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk).

Alternatively, you are able to try Cauliflower All of the Year Round Seeds. Many of the big firms have them.

The fantastic thing about this actual variety is for you to sow them now and overwinter them in a coldframe; sow them in January and February to grow in a heated greenhouse or indoors, otherwise you can sow them outdoors from March to May – so you’ve got a year-round supply from only 1 packet.

If you’re going to make the leap this month, you want to sow them in a module tray crammed with general purpose or seed compost.

Put a seed in each module and keep the compost moist but not too wet and leave them either to your cold frame or in a sheltered spot where frost can’t get at them.

Make sure the seedlings don’t dry out over winter, then they are going to be able to transfer to a sunny, sheltered spot from March to June – reckoning on what the elements has in store for us.

You can start preparing the soil now by digging in a generous helping of garden compost, because cauliflowers are very hungry plants.

If you don’t have any garden compost, or room for a compost heap, dig a trench where you’re going to plant the seedlings and fill a small section each day together with your vegetable peelings and teabags – but you should definitely cover this with soil immediately to discourage foxes.

This kitchen waste will rot down over the winter to present extra nutrients within the soil and help it to retain moisture within the spring.

The cauliflowers ought to be able to eat by June in the event you plant them out early, or at any time next summer. Just be certain they may be all out of the floor before October and the danger of frosts.

EVEN if you’ve got away with leaving dahlias permanently within the ground in previous years, they’ve only survived due to a run of mild, dry winters. But in our current colder, wetter winters, they stand no chance. So a good way to keep them to grow again as opposed to forking out on new ones next spring, harvest the tubers and store them inside. Here’s how…

Get the timing right

Don’t rush to dig up dahlias simply because autumn has arrived. Frequently the plants look green and healthy and continue flowering, leave them alone. Wait until the 1st proper frost blackens the foliage and makes the plants look limp and sad.

Preparing tubers for storage

Cut the tops of the plants off about four to 6 inches above ground level. Then use a garden fork, pushed in about nine inches far from the bottom of every plant, to lever it out of the bottom. Take care to not prong the tubers, as they’ll rot if damaged. Leave the cluster of tubers intact and pick it up by the bottom of the stems.

Gently shake off the loose soil, carefully rinsing away any remaining with a slow-running hosepipe. Label each cluster by variety, then stand the wrong way up in a dry, sunny situation outside, with lots of space between them (besides allowing air to dry the tubers, this encourages any remaining sap to expire of the hollow stems, which helps the tubers to store well without rotting). Turn the tubers over carefully several times in order that air can reach all of the nooks and crannies. When they’re thoroughly dry, they’re able to put away.

Storing tubers

Dahlia tubers are killed by frost and damp, so it’s necessary to keep them in a dry shed or garage. But since they’re dormant, it’s okay to store them at midnight. Place the clusters of tubers in net hammocks slung from the roof, or in slatted stacking trays, spacing them out slightly to permit air to circulate.

Take precautions against mice, for you to nibble stored tubers. In case you don’t have an appropriate outbuilding, you’ll store your tubers in a spare room indoors, however it must be very cool otherwise they’ll dry out an excessive amount of. You should also leave them open to the air, instead of packing them in plastic bags or closed cardboard boxes.

Checking for damage

During the winter, check tubers for signs of damp, rot or rodent damage. If damage is located, cut away affected areas, which typically look soft and brown, until only greenish-white tissue remains. It’s often easier to take away a complete affected tuber from a cluster, cutting it off on the narrow junction where it joins the bottom of the major stem. To forestall further trouble, dust the open wound with sulphur powder.

Starting back into growth

Dahlia tubers will naturally begin to sprout in spring; plant them in late April with the highest several inches below the outside of the soil so the brand new shoots don’t emerge until after the last frost. Carefully harvested and stored, the identical dahlia tubers could be regrown for decades.

If you ought to propagate some extra plants, start potted tubers on a warm windowsill indoors in January and use the various strong, young, early shoots as cuttings after they are two inches long.

HARVEST the last peppers, aubergines and chillies from the greenhouse or walk-in polytunnel. Even tiny peppers and chillies are still usable.

Cover late crops with cloches or fleece overnight if cold weather is forecast, and gather pumpkins and squashes before there’s a major frost.

When modern shrub roses finish flowering, cut them back slightly to reshape the bushes. But don’t prune classic shrub roses with colourful hips until late winter, so that you don’t spoil the show.

SEPTEMBER is an effective time to devise ahead for next year by filling in any gaps on your garden. 

Plant trees, shrubs or perennials now and their roots can establish themselves within the still-warm soil before winter sets in so that they have a head start on those planted in spring.

Climbing plants are among the many primary in any garden but particularly in small gardens because they grow upwards and so absorb less space than spreading bushes so that you can pack more in.

Many provide several seasons of interest, too, with spring or summer flowers and autumn berries and foliage, with some retaining a robust shape over winter.

For instance, the wall shrub pyracanthus has soft early summer blossom and bright red or orange berries over autumn and winter – even though it must be kept under control.

Similarly, Boston ivy will cover ugly walls and fences year-round and become a blaze of red in autumn – although when you are worried about your brickwork it’s best to not plant it beside your home.

Other spectacular climbers include the superb Hydrangea petiolaris, which produces lacy flower heads and might cling to surfaces with minimal support.

And obviously, no garden has to be and not using a range of colorful clematis – Clematis montana could be relied upon to scramble over boring wooden fences or dishevelled sheds every spring and brighten them up for months.

However, there are numerous more exotic climbers to make a choice from, so here’s a seasonal list which may change your gardens – and even your life.
 

SPRING

Madagascar jasmine (Stephanotis floribunda) is a beautiful evergreen climber with glossy green leaves and heavily scented, waxy, white flowers which appear in small clusters from spring to autumn.

The down side is that they will only survive winters in warm, sheltered gardens as a way to only really be permanently outdoors within the South. But don’t let that stop you growing one in an enormous pot with a trellis support in case you have a conservatory to maintain it in in the course of the winter.

The Mexican blood flower (Distictis buccinatoria) is a higher bet for many of the rustic – even though it is absolutely not suitable for gardens in extremely cold areas.

This is another evergreen climber and has crimson, trumpet-shaped flowers with yellowy-orange centres from early spring to summer.

The Chocolate Vine (Akebia quinata) is better for colder areas, because it can survive frost and temperatures of around minus 5C. It’s a fragile, woody-stemmed climber with vanilla-scented, brownish-purple flowers from late spring, that are followed by sausage-shaped purplish fruits.

SUMMER 

The Star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) is, like its name suggests, an absolute star performer and suitable for many gardens because it can survive all however the sharpest frosts.

It is another evergreen with very fragrant and mild star-shaped white flowers which appear in summer and convey long pairs of pods for autumn interest.

Solanum is almost as useful, even though it doesn’t adore it when temperatures dip below 0C for long. The Solanum jasminoides ‘Album’ has pretty little star-shaped white flowers which, although lacking an attractive scent, do have the benefit of being on show all summer and autumn.

It can be semi-evergreen so it can hide fences and sheds all year around, as will the purple-flowered Solanum crispum ‘Glasnevin’.

Actinidia kolomikta is an extremely unusual wall shrub because its long green leaves are largely edged in creamy-white or pink.

It also has small, cup-shaped white flowers in summer, but better of all it’s fully hardy – that means it is going to survive temperatures as little as minus 15C.
 
AUTUMN 

Tropaeolum tubersum is a completely pretty climber with greyish-green lobed leaves and golden-orange cup-shaped flowers from mid-summer to late autumn.

It can endure the cold, but not less than 0C – so gardeners inside the North might struggle – but it’s worth trying in a sheltered corner.
 
WINTER

Jasminum polyanthum is another fabulous evergreen jasmine, but this one has the benefit of carrying large clusters of fragrant white flowers from late summer throughout to winter, when it could happily withstand temperature as little as minus 5C.