Ideas for jobs in your garden this October:

• Cut some spring flowers and enjoy them in a vase inside.
• Guide the new, pliable shoots of climbers in the right direction and tie them onto their support.
• For perennials, especially grasses, cut back any dead growth left over from last season before too much new growth appears.
• Feed spring bulbs before they start to die down to ensure a good flowering next year. Deadhead bulbs that have flowered to divert the plant’s energy to forming next year’s flower inside the bulb, rather than going towards forming seeds.
• If you have had your dahlias in storage, give the tubers a light water. When shoots appear at the base of the stems, divide the tubers with part of stem attached and plant them out. Dahlias other than the dwarf varieties need to be staked; best to put the stake in the hole with the tuber when planting to reduce the risk of putting the stake through the tuber. Now is the time to protect new growth from snails and slugs.
• This weekend is your very, very last chance to prune your roses. For those who completed this job during late winter, go back and check your bushes for "die back". Sometimes stems will start to die back from the tip. Cut them off to just above a fresh bud on green wood to remove all the brown and yellowing part of the stem.
• An interesting approach to sowing vegetables out into the garden is by what stage the lilacs are at. When lilac leaves are about the size of your little fingernail, sow crops such as peas, silverbeet, lettuce, beetroot, spring onions, carrots, parsnips, cauliflower, potatoes, and radish. When lilac is in full bloom, plant beans and once your lilac flowers have finished, plant squash and cucumbers. Does that sound reasonable?
  

Armidale Garden Club meeting