Autumn is the perfect time to start planning next year’s foray into the garden. We are very novice gardeners at Bruce Bramfield HQ and I confess we don’t put in as much effort into gardening as we did when my husband and I bought our first home together! So to start putting that right, I have been researching and making plans for the garden in the year ahead.

Here’s what’s on our to-do list this autumn:

Planting bulbs

I always have a bit of hope for the spring when the first snowdrops appear in the New Year – followed by the daffodils then tulips, we just know that summer is on its way.  

Cutting hedges

Now all the little birds have fledged from their nests, we can get the garden boundaries neatened up. Trimming the hedges can also help them stay healthy in the winter by ensuring that air can circulate around them.

It’s also a good time to cut back a lot of other shrubs and bushes and other plants that have finished flowering.

Get moving

Autumn is the best time to move and introduce new plants to the garden as it’s generally still warm enough for them to take root but gives them time to get a little more established before the growing that will commence in Spring.

Prepare for Winter weather

We’re getting in a few very basic supplies to help protect some more delicate plants in our garden. We have a few plants that will benefit from some mulch and a couple of shrubs that will probably need some insulation (we used straw last year and the plants survived!). We have a relatively small olive tree in a pot, it’s proved to be very hardy but if it gets very cold then we will move it closer to the house in a more sheltered position.

What are your gardening plans for next year? Record them all in our environmentally friendly garden themed Eco-Notebooks! There are thirty plain pages of recycled paper for notes and sketches of planting schemes and garden centre wish-lists. We hand sew all of our handy A6 sized Eco-Notebooks with linen thread which is biodegradable. Our popular Rose, Peony and Autumn leaf illustrations are printed onto the notebooks’ 100% recycled card covers. An ideal gift for gardeners this Christmas!