Eleanor Clarke
GARDEN DESIGN
5 of the best for mid-autumn planting
Autumn is a great time for planting, in particular all kinds of shrubs, trees and bulbs. There are even a few edibles you can get in the ground now that will settle in nicely over winter to give you early crops next year. Here are some of the best choices.
1. Shrubs
Fill gaps towards the back of borders with low-maintenance shrubs, all perfect for planting now. With the autumn rains they’ll get their roots down nice and deep, then burst into fresh growth come spring.
Looking good now: hardy fuchsias such as ‘Hawkshead’ and ‘Whiteknights Pearl’ flower right into November, both more elegant and understated than their tender cousins; gorgeous dramatic shade-loving evergreen Fatsia japonica, with its creamy autumn flowers and black berries; phormiums in all shapes and sizes, from the dramatic near-black swords of ‘Platt’s Black’ to cream and green ‘Variegatum’.
Phorimium
2. Spring-flowering bulbs
Daffodils, tulips, crocus, hyacinths, alliums, snowdrops, grape hyacinths, scilla, glory of the snow, snake’s head fritillaries and more… they’re all good to go in the ground until the end of November. Unless you like regimented lines, scatter them randomly in borders, or pack them into pots, taking care to note whether they prefer a sunny or partially shaded spot.
Photo – katharina-3vRsLz2eNy8
3. Sweet Pea Seeds
You can get your sweet peas off to an early start by sowing seeds in autumn. Use root trainer seed trays, or loo roll inserts, which encourage the long, slim roots of sweet peas to establish nicely over winter. Keep them somewhere sheltered outdoors, check on them occasionally and plant out in spring.
Sweetpea root trainers
4. Garlic
You can plant individual cloves of supermarket garlic quite easily, but for a better flavour try varieties such as ‘Solent Wight’, ‘Messidrome’ (grows well in the south of the UK), or ‘Caulk Wight’ and plant spacing the cloves evenly around a pot of multipurpose compost, about 5cm deep, pointy end up. Pop them in a cold frame or in a sheltered spot by the side of the house and you should see green shoots in a month or two. They’ll be ready to pull up next summer, when the stems start to yellow, then dry them for a couple of weeks somewhere cool and light.
Also: shallots can be planted in autumn for harvesting in early summer.
5. Fruit Trees
Whether you buy bare root or potted trees, it’s a great time to plant them as they’ll get their roots firmly down into all that nice damp soil, ready to grow, flower and fruit next year. Apple, pear and cherry trees are especially straightforward and successful in the UK climate, but if you’re lucky enough to have a super-sunny south-facing wall, you could be adventurous and go for an apricot. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s the right size for where you plan to plant it – come and ask us about rootstocks and eventual sizes and we’ll make sure you get it right.
