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THE GREYTON POST
MAR /APRIL 2025
Autumn in the Garden: Preparing for the Season Ahead
Trichoderma for mildew and black spot. • Label dahlia tubers now—once flowers die back, identifying them becomes impossible. Divide tubers after foliage dies, especially in waterlogged areas to prevent rot. Check for disease before dividing to avoid spreading it. • Enrich the soil with compost before
survived nibbling mice, snails, slugs and mulch! From March, weather cools, heralding the start of Autumn – the shorter daylight hours and lower temperatures signal the warm annuals to conserve their genetics and go to seed, and the cooler season flowers may start to germinate. Now is the time to plant varieties such as cornflowers, calendula, nigella, alliums, and most darling poppies. No mulching required here as they will need the warmth and light to germinate. Compost is the best food, or sprinklings of manure (do not lay it in a thick layer – manure is best composted first - if it smells then it’s too strong for your plants and may burn them). Garden Tasks for March and April: • Feed roses one last time before winter (chicken manure is ideal). Foliar spray with organic
Karen Quayle Spinlea Farm
Z innias and dahlias laugh in the face of the cool season annuals. These sun-loving blooms thrive despite climate change—provided they have enough water at their roots. Mulch is definitely the winner in February! You can use straw, leaves, grass clippings or cardboard and torn up paper are great sources of carbon to add back into the
plants go dormant.
soil. The worms will pull it down in time and
• Mulch
between new seedlings once they
recycle it into their nutritious castings.
germinate to suppress weeds and save time on weeding. Sit back and twiddle your thumbs or fly to a warmer country until Spring! For future events at Spinlea farm, please keep your eye on social media (weather dependent).
If you didn’t mulch, you may, like us have some wonderful new seedling arrivals – an adventure of new varieties and crosses of dahlias, zinnias, cosmos. We leave many self-seeded maybe’s to grow ‘in case’ they will be the next best thing. Afterall , we can manipulate and plan all we want, but nature wins every time and she has a trick to teach us season after season. And the self-seeders are often the toughest plants, having
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