Tucking up the garden

Ah Autumn. The time of mellow fruitfulness and pumpkins! While we haven't had anywhere near a proper frost and quite honestly our lovely village has been spared the worst of the wild wind and flooding, now is the moment, dear fellow gardeners, to plant perennials into the warm soil before all is too wet and the earth turns hard as iron.

I am planting some rather lovely peonies and sedum, which has changed its botanical name to the rather long winded hylotelephium. I can't see it catching on in all honesty! Take care where you plant your diva's mind you, as once they are in, they do rather hate being moved.

Whilst I am sure you've all been planting out your favourite daffodil bulbs, patience is required for your tulips. If you wait until we have had our first hard frost, all the things that can destroy your bulbs will have been killed themselves by the cold. Ideally, dahlia's too need to be blackened before they are lifted. A top tip is to label them now before you are unable to tell which vareity they are because all their flowers are gone ( a lesson I learnt the hard way last year).

I might have been waxing lyrical about plants earlier in the garden musing year but right now it's all about tucking up and taking care of your soil. There is such a mix of soils around the village so rather describe the specifics about managing my clay, what I will say is "stay off your soil!". Any soil is at risk of compaction and crushing the structure means it basically cannot function because it cannot breathe. And rather than curse the leaves that are falling, whizz them up with your lawn mower. They make the most excellent compost when left over the winter and don't take my word for it. I followed the great Monty Don's advice last year and was delighted with the results.

I am a big fan of mulching. So just in case we're faced with another bitter cold winter, make sure your favourite plants have a layer of warming mature to keep them warm and dry.

Oh, and is anyone up for a garden open day next year? Let me know if you are. I do adore having mooch around to see what everyone else is growing.

Learn more about Kathryn's wild garden style floristry at fierceblooms.com