The nights are drawing in and there’s a chill in the air, the leaves are starting to fall, now is the perfect time to prepare your garden for winter.

No one knows this better than our resident Gardener, Elspeth who is working really hard to ensure the garden here will look amazing come March time. In this post Elspeth gives her 5 top tips for autumn gardening. So, make yourself a cuppa, grab a biscuit and read on.

Plant Your Bulbs

Autumn is the season to plant out your bulbs to ensure lots of colour in your flowerbeds, planters, and pots in Spring.

Here at Flore we plant a mixture of tulips, narcissi and alliums, to give continuous colour throughout the spring months. We plant the bulbs in groups here for a greater visual impact.

Love Your Lawn

Autum is the perfect season to show your lawn some TLC. Change the cutting height of your lawn mower, if you can raise the height of the mower, you are not cutting the grass as low as normal. This will help stop moss from growing and keep the grass healthier. If any areas are looking a bit bare, now is the perfect time to throw some seed down, to ensure a beautiful, thick lawn come Spring.

Clear The Leaves

Once the leaves have fallen from the trees in late Autumn, it’s a good idea to clear them from your lawns and flowerbeds. You can keep these leaves to make leaf mould to feed next year’s plants. You can do this by using big string black bags. Fill them full, tie the top and then add puncture holes near the base and this will allow air to circulate.

Compost/ Mulch Your Flowerbeds

If you make your own compost, now is the time to spread it on the soil between your plants. Composting can help to hold in moisture, insulate plant roots from hard frosts and are also it’s a great food source for plants come the spring. If you don’t make your own compost your local garden center will be able to advise you on the best all round compost to nourish your flowerbeds.

Finally Make Sure Your Winter Wildlife Is Happy

Our gardens are a haven for lots of creatures and these little creatures can struggle during a cold winter. To help them overwinter you could consider not cutting back flowers which have gone to seed. These seed heads are the perfect cosy place for insects during the cold winter months and they provide a great food source for birds. Skeleton seed heads can also add visual interest in flowerbeds that can look sparce during winter months.