Putting The Garden To Bed For Winter

[Glitterbiscuits]

Who’s doing what?
I'm going to very lightly prune my roses.
Share some compost about the flower beds as a mulch.
I'm also getting someone in to very lightly trim a conifer hedge I have. Not ideal timing but I’m trying to avoid birds nesting.
I have some wallflower plants and I might get a few tulip bulbs as I’m never convince the previous years will come back.
I plan to cover the garden table too.

I've lightly pruned my roses already, to prevent wind rock in the winter. They get a proper prune in spring though if I remember.

Today I will be bringing in a few pots of tender stuff, my dwarf pomegranate, a few succulents and some weird random Australian 'kangaroo paw' plant as they don't like the cold and it's going down to about 5 degrees tonight I think. I will have to find room on windowsills to act as winter quarters. Although I have a potting shed, it is unheated so can't keep them in there.

I'd love a greenhouse that could be heated/kept frost-free in winter but there's nowhere to put one unfortunately.

I've covered the garden furniture already. I need to prune roses and dig up dhalia tubers to store in the shed but they're all still flowering, so just waiting for autumn 🤣

I still have so much to do! It was such a dry summer everything was rock hard and I did almost nothing. Didn't even mow the grass really. I've mowed it now but have so many things i need to move around, cut back, split up - and I want to cover the veg patch to kill off all the weeds. Ahhhh so much to do!

My dahlias are at their best so I'll probably leave them in situ.
The roses will get a good chop, I did them this time last year and they've been fabulous.
I have saved a lot of cardboard packaging to put down on some beds.
I'm still getting a few runner beans and courgettes but I'll dig them up next week.

Roses just had their chop back yesterday. Climbers are still in flower. I'm going to bring begonias, dahlias in as soon as the flowers drop off... I've leave them in their pots (move into the shed) and only unearth them in the spring. I need to remember to dig up and bring in the pelargoniums this year too. I always wonder what else I could 'save' by bringing it in!

We're surrounded by huge trees which tend to dump a foot high bed of leaves on the flower beds doing a fairly good job of protecting anything that might be a bit susceptible to frost!