Gardening tips for October

Use autumn leaves:

October makes the trees glow in the most beautiful colours. When the leaves fall from the trees, many people see them only as a nuisance, but they are actually perfect for effective use in the garden.
- The leaves can be used as a cover for frost-sensitive plants
- Piles of leaves can be accumulated in corners of the garden to provide hiding places for small mammals
- You can also put parts of it on the compost, because together with other garden waste it becomes valuable humus for the garden after a longer period of time.
- Children love to play in the leaves, so think of the little ones who can have a great leaf fight with them.

Plant insensitive shrubs, trees and perennials now:

October is the right time to plant insensitive woody plants. Only frost-sensitive plants should be planted in spring.
Planting in autumn has the advantage that your plants will already have formed quite a few roots the following spring and will therefore have a head start on growth. Wild shrubs, roses, forsythia, Christmas roses or fruit trees are suitable for this. With hibiscus, hydrangea and butterfly bushes, however, you should wait until spring.

Early bloomers - planting bulbs:

If you want to have a colourful garden in spring, you should make sure that the bulbs for the early bloomers are placed in the ground between September and November. The following always applies: if it is still too warm, you should be patient. If the bulbs sprout too early, they can freeze in winter. Early bloomers include: Tulips, ornamental garlic, dwarf iris, hyacinths, daffodils and crocuses.
There is a simple rule for planting bulbs: plant them about twice as deep as they are tall. The bulbs should not be planted too deep. For a splendid flowering tulip carpet you need about 40 bulbs per square metre. Bulb flowers also work well in pots. It is important that the pots are frost-hardy and have a hole so that excess water can drain off.

Planting tubs and containers for autumn:

When the summer plants have faded, boxes, beds and tubs often become empty and dreary. To have a beautiful colourful garden in autumn, you can plant the beds and boxes with autumn flowers. The following are suitable for autumn planting: asters, Christmas roses, fat hen, chrysanthemums, funkie, heather plants, ornamental grasses, silver leaf, ornamental peppers and ornamental cabbage. And if you also like Halloween, you can of course add pumpkins, corn and ghosts, witches or coloured lights to the decorations.

Use fallen fruit in the garden:

There is always fruit that falls from the trees and is no longer suitable for further processing or consumption. Unfortunately, it is not possible to simply leave it lying around, as there is otherwise a risk of infection by mould or fungi. However, some of the better fruit can be placed in a corner of the garden to provide food for beneficial insects and small mammals.
If you press the apples or pears and make juice from them, the pomace remains. This residue is rich in trace elements and is therefore an excellent fertiliser that can be worked directly into the soil. The only important thing to remember is that "a lot helps a lot", because too much pomace can rot in the soil and contaminate it.
If you have more fruit that is no longer suitable for consumption, you can also add a thin layer to the compost.

Prune trees and shrubs:

Before winter, you can give the trees a new shape, currently there are hedge removal days in many places. But you don`t have to give everything to the rubbish disposal, our beneficial insects and small mammals are happy about smaller and larger branch piles in the garden under which they find shelter in winter. Nature conservation can be so simple, because most of the time we already have everything we need at home. So when you have brought the trees or shrubs into shape with the loppers or pruning shears, you can pile up the branches and sticks directly to fit in a corner of the garden and, in the best case, add fallen leaves.