The Surrey garden in autumn

Before the colder weather starts to set in this is the moment when we all need to be thinking about spending a few days out in our gardens

. And if you plan earlier enough you can make the task even easier!

If you're looking out on your garden on a sunny September day it's hard to imagine what you should be doing right now to plan for the winter but keep an eye out for the first signs of trees dropping their leaves because it's also a sign to put netting over your pond. Leave fall into ponds can adversely affect any wildlife in the water so keeping the leaves out is a good idea and a net makes the task really easy. And too many leaves on your lawn and a wet autumn combine to make a real mess of your grass so try and sweep them off as soon as you can.

For those of you with lots of trees you should find a space in your country garden for a leaf composting area. Some simple timber uprights and wire fencing can contain the leaves as they compost down. You can also mulch down the leaves with a chipper if you have one that will speed up your composting. But if this sounds all too much like hard work I'm a proponent of leaving leaves in woodland areas to mulch down where they fall, and of course they provide perfect cover for wildlife like solitary bees and hedgehogs through the winter.

This is also the perfect time to renovate existing shrubs by cutting out dead and dying wood, carry out formative pruning. Take some hardwood cuttings and you'll be popular with fellow gardeners when you can swap plants next year. I always keep an eye out for Surrey garden openings where you'll pick up some interesting cuttings and be able to see the mature specimen in the garden of the person who took the cutting.

You should have finished cutting and treating the lawn but it's still a good time to re-lay turf. All you need to be doing is keeping the grass clear of leaves and get the lawn mower serviced ready for next year!

Whilst the autumn is always the best time to do those major planting jobs we've saved up all year it's also the best time to carry out construction of paths, patios and other structures when you are least likely to disturb those plants. Indeed we consistently have some of the best weather in the autumn for constructing new country gardens in Surrey. So if you've got a new project that needs building plan to do it before Christmas.

And finally lets go indoors where tender plants can be brought into the greenhouse or failing that a conservatory but remember that inside the house you can reduce the frequency of watering now but remember that modern heating systems can kill a plant quickly. A light airy conservatory with not too much heat is much the best place for those tender shrubs like citrus plants and potted exotics. It's also the best place for us as the winter sets in. We can sit back and start picking out the seeds and plants we'll be adding to our country garden next year.

See more about country gardenson my website.

The Surrey garden in autumn

By: Andrew Fisher Tomlin

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