Autumn tends to arrive quickly in Scotland. One week the garden is still in full leaf and the evenings are light, and the next there is a frost on the lawn and the gutters are full.
This autumn garden checklist sets out the jobs that make the biggest difference between September and November, month by month, so the garden comes through winter in good shape rather than needing rescued in March.
It is written for Edinburgh and the Lothians, where the ground stays wet for longer than most national guides allow for, and it is the same order of work our garden maintenance teams in Edinburgh follow at this time of year.
The five jobs that matter most
- Find out where water sits after heavy rain, and deal with it before the frosts.
- Give the lawn its autumn treatment while the soil is still warm enough for seed to take.
- Clear leaves from paving, gullies and drains, and leave them where they do some good.
- Prune what needs it now and leave the rest until spring.
- Protect pots, tender plants, timber and taps before the first hard frost.
Why autumn matters more here than most guides suggest
It is rarely the cold that does the damage in a Scottish garden. It is the combination of wet ground and repeated freezing and thawing through the winter.
Water that sits in a pot, behind a wall or under a paving slab expands when it freezes, and over a few months it can crack terracotta, lift flags and heave the crowns of plants out of the soil. Almost every job on this list comes back to the same principle: get the water moving and keep it away from anything that can be damaged by it.
September: while the ground is still warm
The lawn
Early autumn is the best window of the year for lawn repair, because the soil is still warm enough for grass seed to germinate while the rain does the watering.
Scarifying to lift moss and thatch, spiking or hollow-tining to open up compacted ground, then overseeding any thin patches and applying an autumn feed, which is lower in nitrogen and higher in potassium than a spring feed, sets the lawn up to cope with winter. Leaving this until October usually means the seed sits in cold ground and does very little.
Planting
Autumn is also the natural planting season for trees, shrubs and hedges, since roots establish in the warm soil long before the plant needs to support new leaf. Spring bulbs can go in from September, though tulips are usually better left until November when the soil is colder and the risk of disease is lower.
Perennials that have finished can be cut back where they look tired, but anything with a good seedhead is worth leaving for the structure and for the birds.
Watch where the water goes
The most useful thing to do in September costs nothing. After the first properly heavy rain, walk round the garden and note where puddles form, which paving stays dark long after the rest has dried and where the lawn squelches. Those are the places that will cause trouble in January, and knowing about them now leaves time to do something about it.
October: leaves, drainage and standing water
Leaf clearance
Leaves left on a lawn for more than a couple of weeks will yellow the grass beneath, and on paving they become dangerously slippery once wet. Clearing them from lawns, paths, steps and decking is the obvious job, but the ones that cause the real problems are in the gullies, channel drains, gutters and around downpipe outlets. A blocked gully in November sends water straight back towards the house or across the patio.
Leaves themselves are useful. Piled in a corner or bagged and left for a year they break down into leaf mould, which is one of the best soil conditioners there is, and a modest pile left under a hedge gives hedgehogs and insects somewhere to overwinter.
Standing water
Standing water is the single biggest cause of winter damage in Edinburgh gardens, and it is far more common than most guides admit. Much of the city sits on heavy clay, and gardens on newer developments often have compacted subsoil just below the turf, so water has nowhere to go.
In the short term, forking or spiking a waterlogged area lets air in and helps it drain. Where the same patch floods every year, the longer-term answers are:
- a land drain or a French drain, which is a gravel-filled trench with a perforated pipe that carries water away
- a soakaway where the ground conditions allow one
- or in some cases regrading the surface so that water runs away from the house rather than towards it.
Paving
Paving that holds water is worth looking at too. Failed pointing lets water under the slabs, where it freezes and lifts them, so repointing loose joints and re-bedding any rocking flags before the frosts is far cheaper than relaying a patio in spring. A clean with a stiff brush or a suitable algae treatment also makes paths a good deal safer through winter.
Water features and outside taps
Outside taps benefit from being isolated and drained, or at least lagged, since a burst pipe in a garden wall is an expensive way to discover a cold snap.
November: putting the garden to bed
Protecting plants and pots
Dahlias, cannas and other tender plants can either be lifted and stored somewhere frost-free or, on free-draining soil, left in the ground under a thick mulch. Containers are best moved against a sheltered wall and raised on pot feet so that they drain, because a waterlogged pot is far more likely to crack in a frost than a dry one.
Mulching the beds
A layer of garden compost or composted bark, around five to seven centimetres deep, spread over the borders once the soil is wet does several jobs at once. It insulates plant crowns, feeds the soil as it breaks down, suppresses spring weeds and helps the ground hold its structure through repeated freezing and thawing.
What to prune and what to leave
Some pruning is worth doing now. Tall roses and buddleia can be shortened by a third to stop them rocking in winter wind, which loosens the roots, and apple and pear trees can be pruned once they are fully dormant.
Most things are better left alone until spring:
- Spring-flowering shrubs have already set their buds.
- Evergreens resent being cut before hard weather.
- Hydrangea heads left on through winter protect the buds beneath them.
Structures, timber and wind
Late autumn is the time to check fence posts for movement, tighten or replace loose panels and re-treat timber while it is still dry enough to take a coat. Climbers can be tied in and young trees checked for secure stakes and ties before the winter gales.
Decking benefits from a clean to remove the algae that builds up on shaded boards, and garden furniture that will not be used is better under cover.
What a maintenance plan takes off your hands
Everything above is manageable in a small garden with a free weekend or two. In a larger garden, a shared back green or a property with mature trees and a long run of hedging, it can become a job that is always slightly behind.
A regular garden maintenance plan in Edinburgh takes the seasonal work off the calendar entirely, with visits scheduled around what the garden needs rather than when there happens to be time. We have set out what a garden maintenance plan includes in a separate guide, from lawn care and hedge cutting to seasonal planting and the autumn clear-down described here.
Plans are usually priced per visit or as a fixed annual contract, and the cost depends mainly on the size of the garden, how much of it is planted and how often it needs attention. Our forthcoming guide to landscaping costs in Edinburgh sets out what to expect for a typical domestic plan, so it is possible to compare it against the time and effort of doing the work yourself.
Thinking about next year?
Autumn is also a good moment to step back and look at the garden as a whole. If the same corner floods every year, the patio is in the shade or the lawn is more mud than grass by January, those are design problems rather than maintenance ones, and the quiet months are the right time to plan a change.
Our recent post on garden design ideas for Scottish gardens covers the thinking behind zoning, levels and shelter, and our next guide on when to start a garden project explains why planning over winter usually means building in spring. In the meantime, if the seasonal work is more than you have time for, we would be glad to talk through a maintenance plan for your garden.
Enquire about maintenance
Enquire about maintenance online or call us on 0131 557 7367.