Work done now will set the garden up nicely for next spring, giving you a head start on that busiest of seasons. Also, if it's not raining or blowing, this is one of the most invigorating times of year to be outdoors, writes Jane Powers.
So if the day is clement, get outside, breathe in the autumn smells, have a little stretch to warm up the muscles, and get cracking. Your garden will be a nicer place, and you'll be a fitter, happier person.
TIDYRake fallen leaves off lawns. If there are lots, tip them into a cage (made from chicken wire), where they will rot down to form leaf mould. Or put them in plastic bin bags, which you can aerate by piercing all over with a garden fork. If you value your wildlife, don't be too careful about clearing under shrubs and trees: leaves will provide winter cover for creepy-crawlies - and furnish protein-rich snacks for ground-rummaging birds. Deadhead messy perennials and herbaceous plants. But keep those with shapely, sculptural skeletons, to deliver some structure to the winter border and to feed the birds. Among those that you might exempt from the chop are Acanthus spinosus, agapanthus, artichoke, sea holly (Eryngium), eupatorium, foxglove, some irises, large sedums, teasel, Scotch thistle (Onopordum acanthium), verbascum and Verbena bonariensis.
SNIPIf your bamboos have gone off colonising the garden, now is the time to rein them in. The rhizomes (the running rootstocks) are fairly shallow, and unwanted portions can be unearthed with a fork or spade, cut away from the parent plant and removed. If the ground is hard and dry, run the hose over it first. Some kinds of bamboo - most Phyllostachys, for instance - look more elegant if the clumps are thinned out, so that the culms (canes) can be seen individually. Damaged, spindly and congested culms can be cut off near to the ground with a sharp secateurs or loppers. The experts say you shouldn't remove more than a third of the canes, although we have brutally culled ours by half with no ill effects. But don't blame me if you follow suit and disaster strikes.
SOWSweet-pea seeds can be sown in pots under cover now - in a greenhouse, cloche, polytunnel or cold frame. They will grow slowly in the winter, and make tough plants for next year. They will also flower earlier than spring-sown sweet pea. It's worth sowing leafy crops, also under cover. Green things that will germinate now, and which will crop over the winter and into late spring, include winter lettuces ('Winter Density', 'Valdor'), American land cress, lamb's lettuce, most oriental leaves, radish and spring onions.
Seeds of many perennials can be sown now, in small pots or seed trays. Use a seed compost or mix your own by adding coarse sand to multipurpose compost. The mix can contain up to 50 per cent sand; you'll know the consistency is right when the mixture scrunches when you squeeze it. Stand the pots in a sheltered part of the garden, or put them in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse. Some perennials to sow now are achillea, astrantia, campanula, day lily, dianthus, euphorbia, peony, primula and saxifrage.
PLANTAutumn is one of the best times for planting hardy perennials, shrubs and trees. The soil is still warm enough to encourage the roots to grow, and because there is little or nothing going on upstairs they won't be distracted by hungry leaves or stems and will make stronger underground systems. If yours is a dry garden, autumn-planting may help the plants to be more resistant to drought.
Plant roses and clematis also (prepare the ground really well with lots of organic matter). Plant wallflowers, if you can find them in your local garden centre. Pop in some tulip bulbs for a classic late-spring combination.
Compose a cheer-making winter container: use an evergreen shrub, such as a dwarf conifer or clipped bay or box, as a centrepiece, and surround it with winter flowers. Cyclamen, winter pansy, polyanthus and chrysanthemum are all in bloom now. Don't turn your nose up at heathers, however much they remind you of the 1980s. Be brave, and mingle a slew of them in a trough with evergreen, tufty grasses, such as Carex comans, for a miniature tundra-esque landscape. Ornamental cabbages are a bit of seasonal silliness, and, like the heathers, are most effective en masse. Or, if you want something safe and dignified, plant a flowering or berrying shrub in a container, and surround it with a fringe of ivy that can trail artfully around the edges. These shrubs have a long season of interest: Skimmia japonica subsp. reevesiana (mentioned last week), Skimmia 'Rubella', Viburnum tinus, Sarcococca (Christmas box) and camellia.
DIVIDEDig up and divide herbaceous perennials. Their roots will establish over the autumn and winter, and they'll be ready to sprout with renewed vigour in spring. Throw out any weary bits of root, and replant with lots of organic matter and a handful of seaweed meal, or blood, fish and bone. Leave evergreen perennials and grasses undisturbed for the winter; it's safer to divide them in late spring.
STOPAnd, as they say, look and listen. The air may be chilly, but the garden is lit up with leaves and berries, and with amber shafts of low autumn sunlight. Birds and other creatures sing, buzz and rustle as they go about their birdly or beastly business. But there's an underlying quietness, too, as the world begins to wind down for winter. It's good to be there with it. It's good to be outdoors now.