Essential Gardening Jobs for October: Your Complete Guide

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October bridges the gap between summer’s abundance and winter’s dormancy. As temperatures drop and daylight shortens, this transitional month presents numerous opportunities to prepare your garden for the months ahead. Whether you’re protecting tender plants, planting spring-flowering bulbs, or harvesting the last of your crops, these essential tasks will protect and maintain your garden for the colder weather.

Protect Tender Plants Before The Frost

The first frost can arrive unexpectedly, particularly in northern and exposed regions, where it may appear as early as the first week of the month.

• Lift and move dahlias, cannas, pelargoniums, and fuchsias to a frost-free location. Dormant dahlias and cannas can be moved somewhere dark, like a garage or shed, but those with leaves will need a light place, such as a greenhouse, conservatory or windowsill.
• Tropical specimens, such as bananas and tree ferns, benefit from being wrapped with fleece or straw and covered with horticultural fleece..
• Citrus trees and tender herbs require relocation to greenhouses or conservatories.

If certain shrubs are too large to move, you can create protective barriers using hessian, bracken, or horticultural fleece. Wrap multiple layers around the crown and stems, securing with twine. This insulation moderates temperature fluctuations and prevents frost damage. But coverings should be removed on mild days.

What to Plant?

Garlic and Onion Sets

The ideal window for planting garlic cloves is now. These bulbs require a cold period lasting one to two months, with temperatures between 0 °C and 10 °C. This triggers proper bulb development in spring.

Garlic planting technique:

• Break bulbs into individual cloves just before planting
• Choose the largest, healthiest cloves for the best results
• Plant them 15cm apart in rows spaced 30cm apart
• Position each clove 2.5cm below the surface with the flat base plate facing downward
• Select sites with excellent drainage and full sun exposure
• Avoid pressing cloves forcefully into the soil, as this can damage the basal plate where roots emerge.

Onions

Overwintering onion sets follow similar principles, planting the bulb whole. Varieties bred for autumn planting establish roots during the colder months, allowing for earlier harvests the following summer.

Spring Bulbs

Spring-flowering bulbs need planting this month to develop strong root systems before the ground freezes. Different bulbs have specific timing requirements.

• Daffodils and narcissi (plant immediately, as these need the longest establishment period)
• Crocuses and fritillaries (when the temperature falls below 16 °C)
• Alliums (a few weeks before the ground freezes)
• Tulips (November, as late planting reduces disease risk)

The traditional depth guideline is you plant two to three times the bulb’s height, and this remains the most reliable method.

When planting in borders, position bulbs in informal groups of five to seven for natural-looking drifts. Scatter them gently across the area, then plant where they fall to achieve random spacing that mimics wild growth patterns. This creates a more authentic appearance than rigid, evenly-spaced arrangements.

Divide Herbaceous Perennials

Many perennials benefit from division every three to five years. Plants that are flowering poorly or developing bare centres signal the need for this rejuvenating treatment.

Good candidates for division:

• Daylilies are producing fewer flowers
• Congested clumps of hostas
• Overgrown geraniums and achillea
• Large herb patches including chives, lemon balm, and marjoram

Lift entire clumps with a garden fork, working around the plant’s perimeter before levering upward. Shake off any loose soil, then use two forks positioned back-to-back to tease the sections apart gently. For extremely congested specimens, a sharp spade or old bread knife works well.

Select vigorous outer sections and discard the tired, woody centre. Replant the divisions at the same depth they grew previously, firming soil around roots and watering thoroughly.

Some perennials dislike disturbance. Peonies, for example, can sulk for several years after division. Others, like Achillea, appreciate more frequent splitting. Let the plant’s performance guide your decisions.

Collect and Sow Seeds from Hardy Perennials

The best time to obtain seeds from perennials is during the late growing season, typically autumn. Many hardy perennials germinate readily from fresh seed sown this month.

Easy seeds to collect and sow immediately:

• Aquilegia (columbine)
• Astrantia
• Achillea (yarrow)
• Centranthus (red valerian)
• Nasturtium

Wait until seed heads turn brown and papery before harvesting. Pick them on a dry day and spread them on newspaper in a warm location to finish drying. Once thoroughly crisp, extract seeds by rubbing heads between your fingers or shaking them into paper bags.

Fresh seed from these perennials often germinates better than stored seed. Sow in seed trays filled with peat-free seed compost. Place trays in a cold frame or an unheated greenhouse, as many hardy perennials require cold stratification to break their dormancy.

Give Your Lawn Final Preparations

Lawns need specific attention this month to survive winter in good condition and bounce back vigorously in spring.

Essential lawn tasks:

• Rake up fallen leaves promptly (they block light and cause yellow patches)
• Spike compacted areas with a garden fork to improve drainage
• Brush sharp sand into the aeration holes to prevent them from closing
• Continue mowing whenever the grass is growing, but higher than normal, leaving grass at 2.5-3cm height

Choose a dry day for mowing. Never cut grass when it’s wet, frosty, or within 24 hours of expected frost. The stress damages grass plants and creates entry points for disease.

Clear and Compost Autumn Debris

As perennials collapse and annuals finish their season, clearing away dead material becomes a priority.

What to cut back now:

• Peonies (cut to ground level, which prevents fungal diseases)
• Delphiniums and hardy geraniums
• Hostas and leucanthemum
• Summer bedding plants past their prime
• Yellowed asparagus fronds

Leave some structural plants standing through winter. Ornamental grasses, sedums, allium seed heads, and echinacea cones provide valuable food sources for birds and overwintering sites for beneficial insects. They also look striking when rimmed with frost on crisp winter mornings.

For slightly tender perennials, such as penstemons and salvias, resist cutting back until spring. Their top growth provides insulation for crowns during cold snaps.

Add healthy plant material to compost bins, but never include diseased foliage. Rose leaves showing black spots, mildewed phlox, and rust-infected pelargoniums should be disposed of in the refuse bin to prevent the spread of pathogens.

Create a dedicated leafmould bin for fallen tree leaves. Form chicken wire into a cylinder, securing it with wooden stakes, and then fill it with raked leaves. In 12-18 months, you’ll have beautiful, crumbly leafmould that is excellent as a mulch or soil improver. Beech, and hornbeam leaves break down quickest, while thick evergreen foliage takes considerably longer.

Harvest Late Crops and Prepare the Vegetable Plot

October marks the transition between summer abundance and winter hardiness in the vegetable garden.

Final harvests:

• Tomatoes (bring trusses indoors to ripen on a warm windowsill)
• Pumpkins and winter squash (harvest before frost, leaving 5cm of stem attached)
• Runner beans and French beans (save a few pods for seed)
• Chillies (chop and freeze for easy winter use)
• Maincrop carrots (leave in the ground if soil drains well)

Plant spring cabbage transplants now for harvesting in April and May. Space them 15-18cm apart, firming the soil well around roots. In exceptionally cold regions, protect young plants with cloches or horticultural fleece during harsh weather.

Maintain Your Greenhouse for Winter Production

Greenhouse gardening extends the growing season, but these structures need preparation for their winter workload.

Greenhouse tasks:

• Clean glazing inside and out to maximise weak winter light levels
• Remove debris, fallen leaves, and spent plants
• Wash staging and pots with a garden disinfectant
• Install bubble wrap insulation on interior glazing
• Check that heaters and thermostats function correctly

Start forcing hyacinth, narcissus, and amaryllis bulbs in pots for winter flowers. Plant them in bulb fibre or all-purpose compost, then place them in a cool, dark location until shoots emerge. Once growth appears and roots fill the pots, bring them into light to develop flowers.

Sow sweet peas in deep pots or root trainers. These hardy annuals tolerate cold well, but need protection in small containers where roots can freeze. Overwinter young plants in the greenhouse or cold frame, pinching out growing tips to encourage bushy growth.

Prepare Bird Boxes and Wildlife Habitats

With nesting season finished, give bird boxes their annual clean to remove parasites and provide fresh bedding for winter roosting.

Wildlife-friendly tasks:

• Empty old nesting material from bird boxes
• Scald boxes with boiling water to kill parasites
• Allow boxes to dry completely before adding fresh hay
• Build log piles in quiet corners for hibernating hedgehogs
• Keep bird feeders filled with high-fat/high-energy foods

Take Hardwood Cuttings for Free Plants

Many shrubs and soft fruit propagate easily from hardwood cuttings taken this month. This simple technique costs nothing and produces robust plants.

Suitable plants:

• Roses (species and shrub varieties)
• Currants (black, red, and white)
• Gooseberries and blueberries
• Dogwoods, willows and the majority of deciduous shrubs

Select healthy, pencil-thick stems from this year’s growth. Cut them into 20-25cm lengths, making a straight cut just below a bud at the base and an angled cut above a bud at the top. Remove leaves from the bottom two-thirds of each cutting.

Prepare a trench in a sheltered spot with good drainage. Line the base with sharp sand if your soil is heavy. Insert cuttings so two-thirds of their length sits below ground, spacing them 15cm apart. Firm soil around them and water well.

Cuttings root slowly over winter, developing sufficient roots to transplant by next autumn. Don’t worry if they look lifeless through winter; this is normal. By spring, fresh leaves will emerge, confirming successful rooting.

Final Thoughts

October’s gardening calendar balances harvesting summer’s final offerings with preparing for the dormant season and the new year ahead. These tasks may seem numerous, but spreading them across the month makes each manageable. Prioritise protecting tender plants and planting spring-flowering bulbs, as both have narrow windows of opportunity. Other jobs can flex with the weather and available time.

The effort invested now pays dividends in spring, when well-prepared gardens emerge from dormancy with vigour. Your future self will thank you for the foresight shown this month.