Now that the autumn equinox has passed, the nights will steadily grow longer than the days. As the daylight hours dwindle, so too will the vigorous plant growth that carried us through spring and summer. Our resident vegetable grower, Claire Ratinon, shares her gardening tasks for October.

Claire: Autumn is one of my favourite times of year, as the leaves are turning and falling, the vegetable garden asks for much less. It’s the time for taking stock and reflecting before getting on with all the maintenance and tidying up that’s fallen by the wayside in the busy-ness of summer.

What To Sow in October
Although most gardeners sow their peas in early spring, if you pick the right ones it is possible to get a head start by sowing your seeds in October. Hardy varieties with smooth seed coats (such as Meteor or Kelvedon Wonder) are the ones to choose and can be sown directly into the soil or started under cover in modules or pots.

Seeds sown into the ground may catch the attention of roving mice who will dig them up and devour them, so make the effort to protect your seeds and seedlings from hungry rodents. Once your plants are up and away, protect from the beaks of passing birds with netting and if they’re doing really well, push a few knobbly twigs into the ground for them to scramble up.

The same approach can be applied to garlic, which will produce higher yields than those planted in spring. Both softneck and hardneck varieties can be planted in autumn through to early winter but the hardneck types are better suited for places that experience colder winters. Plant each clove with the pointy end up, leaving 15cm between each one and making sure that there’s two to three cm of soil or compost on top of them. By planting in autumn, the garlic will definitely get the necessary period of cold they need to stimulate the development of a bulb. Garlic prefers to grow in well-draining soil so if your soil is heavy and prone to waterlogging, you can plant your cloves in modules and plant them out in spring.

Gardening Jobs
Autumn, while the soil isn’t too cold, is a perfect time to put down a layer of compost on your beds. Following the no-dig approach to growing means mulching with compost every year to replenish the nutrients and minerals in the soil that have been used up in the last year of growing. While many traditional approaches to gardening suggest that digging in your compost is the thing to do, this destroys the soil structure, disrupts the soil life and brings weed seeds to the surface.

By simply placing the compost (or well-rotted manure) as a mulch on the soil, we are copying nature’s systems when plant matter falls on the ground and is decomposed by the soil life below. By taking this approach, the soil layers remain undisturbed and the result is fewer weeds, better moisture retention and healthier plant growth – plus you’ll save your back from the unnecessary strain and effort.

Last year, the first frost arrived in October so now’s the time to keep an eye on the weather and even pre-emptively fleece the beds containing crops that will be damaged by a below zero drop in temperature, like chard or winter lettuce. Although protecting crops with fleece at this time can keep them warm enough to eke out a bit more growth before the cold halts them entirely, it does compromise airflow so pull it back on days when the weather is milder if possible.