BBC Gardeners' World Sample Issue

TENDER CARE

Ensure your plants are ready for winter with ALAN’s no-fuss guide

Follow SUE’s top tips to get your garden in shape for the season

a hedge

BLOW THE LEAVES AWAY

The Worx LeafJet compact cordless leaf blower delivers petrol-like power with a lightweight frame, so even blowing away wet leaves, stubborn dirt and snow will be a breeze.

Worx was founded with sustainability at its core, and its high-performance products are helping reduce gardening noise and fumes one tool at a time.

No fumes, no mess, no fuss. Better for you and your green space.

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Join us...

for our special festive event at Le Manoir on 12 December – spaces are limited, so turn to p87 to book now

Bring… the Christmas season to life with our latest GW Guide, Creative Christmas, full of festive projects and nature-inspired crafts. Buy now in stores or online at Mags Direct: bit.ly/GWCreative Christmas23

Listen… to season 2 of our podcast on sustainable gardening. Arit Anderson talks to a range of experts, exploring the small steps we can all take in our own plots to help protect our planet. Catch up at GardenersWorld.com/podcast

Welcome

Iused to have mixed feelings about autumn – I’ve always loved the colours of the season, the smell of bonfire smoke and the fun of fresh shiny conkers, but I once struggled to shake the feeling that autumn was a time of melancholy. I suspect it was to do with the return to school, waving goodbye to summer and being forced to do muddy cross-country runs as the temperatures dipped – but that’s another story!

Fortunately, my school days are a few decades behind me, and I now embrace autumn and all it has to offer. And for us gardeners, it’s a brilliant season, with so much to keep us busy outside. Nothing beats clearing the decks and having an autumn tidy-up. Fallen leaves can be collected to turn into precious leafmould and it’s a fantastic time to plant new additions to the garden. Plus, if we’re lucky, we can still enjoy a bit of fine weather, with the possibility of the occasional lunch outside and plenty of opportunities to visit gardens and parks in their colourful glory.

Autumn is also a wonderful time to get creative, and nowadays our social media feeds are a rich seam of inspiration, filled with carved pumpkins, decorated doorsteps and delicious recipes to make our mouths water. And you can find all of that in this issue – turn to p52 for Nick Bailey’s autumn container recipes, inspired by the colours of the season (and featured on our front cover), and on p44 discover Frances Tophill’s guide to using dried flowers for indoor displays that will last for months. We’ve also got a mouth-watering roasted squash recipe from Rukmini Iyer on p99, to make the most of your veg-plot bounty.

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So, whatever autumn means to you, I hope it’s a time of fun, productivity and creativity in the garden. I’m just thrilled there’ll be no cross-country runs for me…

Kevin Smith, Editor @kevinsmithgarden

@gardenersworldmag

@GWmag

get in touch? Turn to p138

Get creative with our homegrown cookery tips and dried flower guide

check out our 2 for 1 Gardens online directory to ensure you’re making the most of your 2 for 1 Gardens entry card. Just go to GardenersWorld.com/gardens

pot display with rudbeckia, carex, violas and heuchera. Photo by Neil Hepworth

“You don’t waste October sunshine”

Katherine

Arden

October We love

This month we are eased gently towards the joys of winter. We reach automatically for a thicker sock, we no longer think about going out without a jacket. The wind is a little bit keener and the leaves on the trees are getting a little bit tatty round the edges. However, it is still warm enough for an afternoon’s gardening or to gather in the last of the summer harvest, and there are still sheltered spots where you can sit with a cup of coffee to listen to the birds packing up and admire the latecomers in your borders.

WORDS JAMES ALEXANDER-SINCLAIR

STAR OF THE MONTH

Hydrangea aspera Hot Chocolate

I have a nifty little ear worm for you: a slightly annoying thing happens whenever I come across a particularly fine hydrangea like this one. Into my head pops the tune Volare – you know, the one that goes “Nel blu dipinto di blu”. My Italian is very rough so I have no idea what it means but I can’t help singing “hydrangea” in my head to that tune. With this particular variety (Hot Chocolate) it would be more appropriate if I sang “you sexy thing (sexy thing you)” but probably best if I stick with “hydrangea, oh-oh, aspera oh-oh-oh-oh”.

Spectacular and reliable plant for sun or light shade. As with all hydrangeas it must be kept well-watered. Propagate from softwood cuttings in summer. Height x Spread 3m x 2.5m

PHOTO: SARAH CUTTLE

BARBERRY BLUSH

When I first started gardening the berberis was very much in fashion. Since then, its popularity has waned somewhat and you don’t see them around as much. A pity, as they have a lot to recommend themselves. They make a good hedge, their autumn colour is subtle yet striking, they have good spring flowers and wild barberry produces edible berries, but some cultivated forms have berries that are mildly poisonous.

Berberis thunbergii ‘Rose Glow’

Tough and hardy on any soil. Makes a good hedge as well as a border shrub. Lots of different varieties from green to purple H x S 1.2m x 1.2m

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

Quite how did a plant this beautiful, this delicate, this finely marked and this useful end up with the unalluring common name of toad lily? True, it is lilyish but I am stumped for the toad connection – except the mottling of the petals might be a bit toady? I love a toad for many reasons (not least its slug-devouring capabilities) but only its mother would appreciate its good looks!

Tricyrtis hirta ‘Taiwan Atrianne’

Keep out of the sunshine – will survive in deep shade if not too dry. Divide in spring. H x S 80cm x 50cm

HEAT OF THE MOMENT

The dahlia is very high up the list of ‘plants without which no garden would be complete’. It is not reliably hardy (as can be evidenced by the massed corpses littering landscapes after last year’s vicious frosts) but the depth of colour, length of flowering and general joie de vivre make it well worth the risk – fortunately it also comes easily from cuttings so you need never be without.

Dahlia ‘Mrs Eileen’

In cold parts of the country, lift all dahlias and store them in a dry, frost-free shed over winter. H x S 90cm x 60cm