October & November 2024

Worplesdon Garden Club is a friendly and enthusiastic club which meets every second Tuesday of the month from 8-10pm in the Old Church, Emmanuel Parish Centre, Stoughton, Guildford, GU2 9SJ with doors open from 7.45pm.

About Worplesdon Garden Club

Membership is only £15 for the year from January (£8 from July) and includes a full schedule of speakers throughout the year, plus a range of social events including Garden Visits, Lunches, Barbecues, and Horticultural Shows. Please see the club website, www.worplesdongardenclub.co.uk, for more details. Visitors (£3) and new members are always welcome.

Club News:

Tuesday 8th October
Club Meeting in October
Alan Williams – ‘A Veg Grower’s Year’. Emmanuel Parish Centre.

Tuesday 12th November
Club Meeting in November
Jon Evans – ‘Alpines’. Emmanuel Parish Centre.

For more information on Worplesdon Garden Club contact Tim Bonnert on 01483 237702, info@worplesdongardenclub.co.uk, or visit www.worplesdongardenclub.co.uk where you can read our latest Club Newsletter – www.worplesdongardenclub.co.uk/newsletters

…a full schedule of speakers throughout the year, plus a range of social events including garden visits, lunches, barbecues and horticultural shows.

Gardening hints and tips for October and November

• Cold nights and frosts will be making an appearance all too soon so protect any tender perennials by moving to a sheltered spot or by applying a thick mulch of compost.
• Remove any pot saucers and raise outdoor pots up onto feet to prevent waterlogging over winter.
• It is the last chance to take cuttings of half-hardy or tender perennials such as fuchsias, salvias and pelargoniums.
• As annuals begin to fade, choose a warm, dry day to collect seed and store in paper envelopes or pouches made from folded kitchen paper.
• Fill in any gaps in the garden with spring bedding such as pansies, forget-me-nots and bellis.
• October is still a good time to divide congested clumps of many perennials after they have finished flowering. Dig up, divide, replant, and water-in well. The warmth of the soil will mean they will re-establish quickly. If the clump is very large it is usually best to only take new plants from the edge and discard the older, woody centre.
• In the vegetable garden, pick the last remaining beans, tomatoes and courgettes, and harvest pumpkins, root crops and brassicas. A frost on parsnips will help turn more of the starches in the roots into sugars, making them even sweeter.
• Lawns may need some autumn maintenance. Scarify to remove thatch, aerate, and apply a lawn feed suitable for autumn application (low nitrogen, high potassium) as well as addressing weeds with selective herbicides if required. New areas of grass should be sown now, or thin areas of lawn raked and overseeded.
• Many hardy annuals such as corn-flower, Ammi, and sweet peas can also be sown now for an early display next summer, or perhaps sow a patch of wildflowers, but choose the right seed mix for your soil type and aspect (light, moisture, etc.).
• As leaves start to fall, it is important to gather them up regularly – Fallen leaves will smother lawns and small plants and will become a dangerous slip hazard on paths.
• Collect leaves into their own bag or leaf bin and leave for about a year to decompose into beautiful leaf mould. This can then be used as a mulch for those tender plants or as a general soil improver.

Cold nights and frosts will be making an appearance all too soon so protect any tender perennials by moving to a sheltered spot or by applying a thick mulch of compost.

• Carefully lift any remaining dahlia and begonia tubers, trim off the dead foliage, label, then store in dry sand or compost in a cool, frost-free place. Alternatively, apply a thick layer of mulch over the plants in situ to protect the tubers from deep frosts over the winter.
• Plant Narcissi and tulip bulbs. Tulips are often quite short lived and can do better in pots or tubs. Pots are also easier to move to a different location after flowering to allow the leaves to die down naturally.
• Tie in wall trained shrubs and climbers to prevent wind damage and lightly prune shrub roses to reduce root damage by wind-rock where top-heavy plants are pulled out the ground by the wind over the winter months. Roses will be pruned again in late winter, so don’t be too harsh now.

Whilst it’s harder to be motivated to get out in the garden when the days are so short and it’s cold and damp, doing a bit of work on the brighter days will pay dividends next year.

• Start to prune and maintain most deciduous trees and shrubs from November – the main exceptions being evergreens or early flowering shrubs such as Forsythia & cherries, plums and other stone fruit which should be pruned in the summer.
• Bare rooted roses, shrubs, hedging, and some trees can also be planted from November through to the end of February. Bare-rooted plants without a pot or soil are a very cost-effective way to buy new plants.
• Stop watering any succulents or cacti and reduce watering of most houseplants – with the light levels being very low, the plants will not be growing and will not need regular watering.
• Tidy perennial grasses and bamboos and continue to clear the top stems of faded perennials where appropriate or leave as over-wintering habitats for beneficial insects.
• Whilst it’s harder to be motivated to get out in the garden when the days are so short and it’s cold and damp, doing a bit of work on the brighter days will pay dividends next year.