Head Gardener update by Jamie Harris

I’ve heard plenty of people remarking that summer is officially over for another year. The 1st of October certainly tends to mark the proper start of a brand new season, but don’t despair, autumn can be just as interesting and rewarding as spring or summer in the gardens here at Leonardslee.  The colours start to deepen and get richer and there is also still enough warmth and moisture in the soil for growth to continue for much of the month. It’s a fantastic time for the keen photographer as the firework display of autumnal foliage starts to put on its annual show. You’ll find the aptly named Maple Walk will be ablaze with colourful acer foliage for instance while the nearby Oak Walk also has some interesting red oaks and tri-coloured oaks. You’ll also be able to spot specimen trees studded throughout the garden walks including Liquidambar styraciflua and Nyssa sylvatica, a personal favourite of mine.

It’s not just the coloured foliage that catches your eye in autumn though. In a good year the berries on our Sorbus trees, flowering dogwoods (Cornus sp.) and holly (Ilex sp.) bushes should persist into October for example. Hopefully they’ll also still be some fruits on our Decaisnea fargesii along Bluebell Bank. Its common names are the Blue Sausage Tree or Dead Man’s Fingers Tree, and once you see it you’ll understand why! It’s also worth checking out a couple of areas to see some fantastic unusual bark. Birch Grove at the bottom of Blue Bank has a variety of birch trees including Betula utilis and Betula nigra, both of which have stunning bark. On the other side of the lakes, Maple Walk has a number of Acer griseum trees and other Snake Bark Maples to enjoy too. And why not have a look at the peeling, multi-coloured bark of our giant Eucalyptus trees on the way down to lakes too. Our conifer collection in the Pinetum provides interest all year round but Autumn is the time when the many different coloured and shaped cones start to catch the eye.

This time of year is one of the busiest for the garden team here at Leonardslee. One key area for our work in the garden during the months ahead focuses on keeping our lawns looking lush and lovely!  Although the grass in the garden will continue to grow at a slower rate throughout autumn, it won’t yet be fully dormant. October is therefore a great time to start the autumn turf care regime and this can take many forms. Aerating a lawn is the process of improving compaction and drainage in the soil by making holes in the turf. This will also encourage root growth and improve oxygen content at root level. It can be done with a garden fork on small lawns or with a powered machine on larger areas. Scarifying a lawn involves scratching and scraping away at the surface to remove thatch (a build up of dead grass and moss that can reduce light and moisture penetration).  It can be done with a strong wire rake on small areas or again a powered scarifier machine for larger lawns. Another key autumn turf job includes applying a sandy top dressing to improve soil texture and encourage rooting. This is best done after aeration. Applying an autumn feed high in phosphates, to improve root development, is also a good idea at this time of year. October is also ideal for carrying out any re-seeding or re-turfing of worn areas of lawn while the temperatures are still not too cold and the chance of rain is high.

Elsewhere in the garden we'll be carrying on with any remaining hedge cutting. Although this can be done right through winter if necessary, we’ll try and get ours done before autumn is out. Other important jobs will also include replanting projects, such as a new scheme down at the Engine House and adding to our collection of Foxgloves with several hundred that were raised by seed here our glasshouse earlier in the year. In October the soil is still warm enough for the plant roots to bed down and establish before the frosts hit and also wet enough from the autumn rainfall that we won’t have to worry about constantly watering them by hand.  We’ll also be cutting back our spent herbaceous perennials, changing our summer bedding container schemes over to an exciting new winter/spring one, planting spring bulbs across the garden and also carrying out some further deadwood removal on some of our older trees and shrubs. Phew, lots to be getting on with! I hope to see you all in the garden at some point during this magical season ahead.