Overview

• Harvest apples and pears now by twisting fruit that lifts easily, gather pumpkins and squash before frost and cure for 1–2 weeks, and lift root vegetables carefully to avoid damage.
• Plant spring‑flowering bulbs such as daffodils and crocus now, with some advisers recommending tulip planting later in October or November.
• Put in overwintering edibles: push garlic cloves about 5 cm deep at 15 cm spacing, set onion bulbs with tips showing, and sow broad beans 5–7 cm deep at roughly 20 cm intervals.
• Rejuvenate beds by lifting and dividing overgrown perennials, pruning spent growth, and applying a 5–7 cm layer of well‑rotted compost or manure as mulch.
• Protect tender plants from early frosts by lifting and storing dahlias and cannas, drying and stowing pelargoniums in frost‑free spaces, and preparing greenhouses while cleaning and oiling tools for winter.