Gardening: Your jobs for this weekend (Oct 9) | Brian Kidd

• Keep cutting the grass. It is much easier and quicker to cut if done regularly. If the grass is sometimes a bit too wet, drag a stiff broom behind you dragging it over the surface. This makes the water droplets fall on to the soil and an hour later the grass is easier to cut.

• If you are intending to treat wooden garden furniture with a preservative to restore its quality, choose the correct product. Ensure the wood is dry before using any preservative otherwise moisture is locked in.

• Buy some fragrant, long-stemmed sweet pea seeds ready to sow next month. They are more expensive but if you love perfumed sweet peas it’s worth paying a bit more.

• If you missed last week’s to-do list, click here

• Try to get the hedges trimmed before the cold winds arrive. The good news is that this will be the last trim required this year – hooray!

• Take a lot more care about watering in the greenhouse. From now until spring, watering is best done in the mornings.

• If you are going to take geranium plants into the greenhouse to overwinter, cut them back hard and remove every leaf. Dust the cut ends with sulphur powder to prevent stem rot. This will enable you to store them closer together to save space.

• In the greenhouse plan to keep a small area warmer by dividing the greenhouse with bubbled polythene sheeting.

• Try to get some more digging done. Bear in mind it is a good idea to complete the winter digging before Christmas - I wish I could.

• Plant a horse chestnut conker and a walnut in a pot and next year plant it somewhere so that the children in 30 years’ time can get the nuts without breaking windows.

• Please remember to feed and water the wild birds.​​​

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