Garden jobs for late October: tulips, bare-root roses and leaf mould
Plant tulips once the soil cools, order bare-root roses, turn fallen leaves into free compost and check bonfire piles for hedgehogs. What to do this week.
The clocks have gone back, the first frosts are close in most of the UK, and the trees are letting go. It feels like the end of the season, but the last week of October is one of the most useful of the year. What you plant and tidy now decides how the garden looks in April.
Here are four jobs worth doing before November, and why each one is timed the way it is.
Plant tulips now the soil has cooled
Daffodils and crocuses want to go in early, but tulips are the exception. They are best planted late, from late October through November, once the ground has cooled. Cold soil keeps tulip fire at bay: a fungal disease that spots the leaves, twists the shoots and can wipe out a clump. It thrives in warm, damp autumns, so waiting a few weeks is a real defence.
Plant each bulb two to three times its own height deep, pointed end up. In a pot, go deeper than feels natural and pack them close for a fuller display. If a clump suffered from tulip fire last spring, plant this year's bulbs somewhere else: the fungus lives on in the soil.
Order bare-root roses
Bare-root roses are sold from November to March, while the plants are dormant. They are cheaper than potted roses, there is a far wider choice of varieties, and they often establish faster because the roots go straight into your soil rather than sitting in compost.
Order now and plant around leaf fall, any time the ground is not frozen or waterlogged. Soak the roots in a bucket for an hour or two before planting, set the graft union just below the surface, and firm the soil well. If the ground is frozen when they arrive, keep them in a cool shed with the roots wrapped and plant on the first mild day.
Turn fallen leaves into leaf mould
Every leaf on the lawn is free soil conditioner. Leaf mould is simply leaves left to rot slowly, and it is one of the best things you can add to a border or use as a seed compost once it is fine and crumbly.
Rake up the leaves, ideally from oak, beech or hornbeam, which break down well. Pile them in a simple cage of chicken wire on four stakes, or pack them damp into bin bags with a few holes punched in. Keep them moist: dry leaves barely rot. After a year you have a rough mulch; after two you have something dark and fine enough to sow into. Thick evergreen leaves such as laurel are slow, so shred them or keep them out.
Leaves also need to come off the lawn. A thick layer left for weeks blocks the light and leaves yellow patches by spring.
Check bonfires for hedgehogs
A pile of branches waiting for Bonfire Night looks like a perfect place to hibernate. If you are having a fire, build it on the day, or move the whole pile to a new spot just before you light it. Light it from one side only, so anything sheltering inside has a way out, and keep a bucket of water nearby.
Better still, leave one log pile somewhere quiet all winter. Hedgehogs, toads and overwintering insects will all use it.
The first frost
Frost dates vary a great deal across the UK: a city garden in the south may not see one until December, while a frost pocket in the north can have several by now. Before a cold night, bring tender plants such as pelargoniums, salvias and citrus under cover, wrap pots that cannot move, and lift dahlias once frost has blackened their leaves.
Your own garden's calendar
Bloomtwin puts these jobs in a calendar built from the plants in your garden, with frost dates for where you live, so the tulip reminder arrives in the right week and the dahlias are only flagged once your first frost is due. You can try it free on one device.