October gardening jobs: pruning, preparing and planting

• Sweep up leaves (where slugs and snails often hide) and use to make a nutritious leaf mould – but avoid rose leaves which have the fungal disease,  black spot.  

• Place netting over ponds to prevent leaves falling in – putting any cleared pondweed on the side for a day to allow wildlife to crawl back into the water. 

• Spray fruit trees with a winter wash solution to kill off pests and their eggs.

• Wash and disinfect the greenhouse.

• Help nourish the soil by digging compost into borders and spreading bark chips on top to insulate plant roots and suppress weed growth. 

• Store potatoes, onion and garlic bulbs in breathable hessian sacks and onion bags – removing any rotting bulbs first.

• Prevent waterlogging by raising pots off the ground using bricks or 'pot feet'.

• Install a cold frame to keep young plants safe from extreme weather.

• Bring half-hardy plants such as zinnias into a greenhouse or cover with fleece. 

• Secure outer leaves around cauliflower heads using string.

• Divide overcrowded herbaceous perennials, and move shrubs around – when plants are dormant, they’re more tolerant to being dug up and relocated.

• Lift begonia tubers, dahlia tubers and gladioli corms to store over winter, removing dead foliage first. 

• Split congested rhubarb clumps into pieces with a spade and re-plant the healthiest looking bits.

• Shelter tender plants in the greenhouse, and move citrus trees to a sunny spot indoors, away from cold draughts and radiators.

• Trim tall hedging like privet, sea buckthorn and cherry laurel bushes.

• Cut back dead perennial plants but leave some foliage behind to provide homes for wildlife.

• Take hardwood cuttings from deciduous shrubs like hydrangea and fuchsia.

• Prune climbing roses – tying the stems before autumn winds cause damage.

• Cut back the old canes of summer fruiting raspberries, leaving new green shoots for next year's crop. 

• Harvest peas and beans before cutting the plants down to ground level. 

• When picking cabbages, cut across the stem to encourage smaller leaves      to grow.

• Test if pumpkins and squashes are ripe using your fingernail – if it doesn’t pierce the rind, they’re ready.

• Prepare your veg plot for spring by digging trenches and filling with manure or kitchen waste.

• Rake away dead thatch to help light reach the grass.

• Carry out the last mow and recut lawn edges with a spade.

• Avoid soil compaction by aerating with a garden fork and repair any bare patches with fresh turf.

Install bird feeders and bird baths – your feathered friends will thank you by eating garden pests.