Feed and Weed treatment
Director Jason Harker carrying out a feed and weed treatment on a client’s garden.

There will be many autumn weeds about at the moment which will need to be cared for before the winter takes over. If you’re not one for using chemical weedkillers in your garden, it’s more important to keep on top of the weeds growing in your garden. Otherwise, they are bound to grow out of control.

Having weeds grow in your garden will not only be an eye-sore but will also cause your lawn to lack nutrients. The weeds will compete with your lawn and may cause the lawn to dull and look unhealthy. Here are a few suggestions when carrying out weeding this month:

 

  • Feeding, aerating and scarifying will give your lawn lots of nutrients which will, as a result, make the lawn grow more vigorous and this would make it much more difficult for the weeds to compete.
  • Use a hand fork to dig out rosette-shaped weeds such as daisies, dandelion, and plantain.
  • Any weeds which are resistant to weedkillers should be dug out in the autumn time. These areas could then be re=-deseeded or re-turfed to ensure that the lawn looks fantastic next year.
  • If you have creeping weeds on your lawn, such as white clover, speedwells, sorrels, and silverweed, you should rake over these areas and then mow. This will discourage these weeds from creeping.
  • If you closely mow your lawn, this may weaken the grass and allow weeds in. So keep the setting a little higher than usual if you are finding an increased amount of weeds in your garden.

Weed Watch –  Japanese Knotweed is starting to disappear now, leaving tall brown canes in its place. The foliage is withering and the leaves are beginning to turn yellow. That doesn’t mean at all that it is gone for good – as it is a perennial, Japanese knotweed will come back thriving, stronger than ever before next year.

Plant Focus – Colchicum, also known as autumn crocus or ‘naked ladies’ (called this due to the flower not having a leaf, therefore leaving a metaphorically unclothed flower). Having these pretty flowers in your garden will bring some needed colour to a time which is getting increasingly dull and dreary.