‘Stop now’ gardener reveals two jobs to immediately quit if you don’t want your plant pots to crack in the first frost
GREEN-FINGERED homeowners have been warned to prepare their gardens ahead of this season’s cold and frosty weather.
Emma O’Neill said plant pots will crack if two gardening jobs aren’t completed in time.
O’Neill is the head gardener at the horticultural charity Garden Organic located in Warwickshire.
She said now is the time to protect plants, crops and the soil from harsh winter weather.
Among her list of tasks is ensuring decorative plant pots survive to be filled with eye-catching blooms next summer.
This can be easily done by moving the pots from patios and stopping all watering.
“With container plants, make sure you’ve got the pot feet underneath because even terracotta pots will crack in the frost if they’re not off the ground,” she told The Independent.
“Stop feeding pot plants, because any delicate new growth they develop will be lost in the frost, and stop watering.”
A garage or shed can be the ideal frost-free place to store tender plants in pots.
Alternatively, she suggests wrapping the plant and pot in horticultural fleece to keep the compost from freezing.
O’Neill recommends protecting the roots of plants from frost by mulching with homemade compost.
The green waste which can be collected from local councils also gives the soil structure.
She said winter salads should be covered with cloches unless they’re being grown undercovers.
Potted pelargoniums are best moved into a greenhouse or conservatory as they are cared for similarly to bedding plants.
It’s important to be mindful of the temperature of glasshouses and polytunnels as temperatures can drop to minus five degrees Celsius undercover.
October gardening jobs
The Sun’s Gardening Editor, Veronica Lorraine, has shared the jobs you need to tackle in October.
“It’s a good time to trim deciduous hedges – like box, yew, hawthorn, hornbean and beech – plus hedge trimmers are a great upper body workout!
Make leafmould – gather up all the fallen leaves and fill either bin bags or plastic carrier bags. Seal the top, stick a few small holes in the bag – and then store for a year or more. Free compost!
It’s unlikely you’ll get any more red tomatoes so have one final harvest and chuck the plants on the compost. See if you can get the green ones to ripen by putting in a drawer (some say with a banana). Also keep the seeds from a couple – and plant again next year if they went well.
Finish getting in your spring bulbs. Ideally you’d have done daffs and alliums, but tulips are better in the ground when the soil temperature gets a bit colder.
It’s good to leave some plant litter in the ground – it adds to the nutrients as it rots down, and provides shelter and food for insects. But remove the manky brown bits collapsing all over the lawn/winter structure.
Mulch – it not only suppresses weeds, but keeps the soil warm, improves water retention and adds a little winter duvet to your outside space.
October’s a good month for carrots, peas, asparagus, broad beans, and rhubarb.”
The advice comes after gardening expert Timothy Green shared a lawn job that must be done now for a luscious lawn in spring.
He said once the weather has been above 10 degrees consistently for two weeks it’s time to overseed.
Remove any moss, dead grass, or weeds before using the seeds to target any “worn zones.”
He advised aiming for a rate of 35g of seeds per square metre.
“Three-pound coins stacked is the right depth for your seeds to access water, heat and sunlight,” he said.