BIG DECISION - TO TIDY OR NOT? (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

BIG DECISION - TO TIDY OR NOT?

3:29pm Tuesday 26th October 2010

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October this year has been a bit of a mixture, some lovely sunny days, some rainy days and a few heavy overnight frosts. I hope you had all managed to protect your tender plants or brought them inside in time.

This is the time when we have to make up our minds as to whether fallen leaves and other debris are cleared away or should be left through the winter months in the hope that we are helping to provide food and shelter for friendly wildlife. My own solution has always been to compromise and I’ve adopted a more relaxed approach, after all we do have to look at our gardens right through the year. We need to rake up any leaves that fallen on the lawn but it makes sense to collect them into a heap, tucked well out of sight, to rot down. This way everybody wins – hopefully you will have provided some creature with a snug winter home and next spring you will have some organic mulch to spread over your garden. Small mammals and birds can really suffer through lack of food in the winter so this is a plea for you to leave seedheads on plants such as sunflowers, they can make a huge difference.

Dahlias are the stars of the autumn flower garden and growers seem to be divided into two camps – those who leave them in the ground over winter and those who lift them. I have heard success stories from those who leave their dahlias outside but I feel that if you want to be really sure of their survival it’s probably safer to lift them in the autumn. As soon as the foliage turns black cut back the stems to about 10cm. Turn the tubers upside down to allow the excess moisture to drain off and put them in a dry shed or outhouse. Finally, to make really sure, give the tubers a dusting of sulphur powder to protect against fungal infections before storing in a box of sharp sand somewhere that is frost free ready for another spectacular display next year.

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