October in the Garden 2026
October in the Garden 2026
Although we are still getting some lovely warm days, there is no doubt that Autumn is here now and the misty mornings are testament to this. The Garden Team are now moving into one of our busier phases with the Guests arriving at the Castle for shooting season along with lots of planting jobs in the Gardens. This month the Nerines are looking gorgeous down at the Head Gardeners Cottage, they arrive every October and look as if they should be here in Summer, but they are a fantastic flower to add colour to your garden at this time of year. They need shelter ideally but ours have been reliably hardy against the West facing wall with no extra attention apart from a layer of mulch later in the year so do give them a try.
The Chrysanthemums are nearly ready to flower in the cold glasshouse and we think that they are going to have a great year as the plants are looking really strong and healthy with lots of buds forming! After some welcome rain, all the borders are putting on a late show and the gardens are still providing a lot of interest with the Dahlias, Rudbeckias and Roses all still flowering their socks off.
In terms of jobs this month, we have planted up the second bed in the Central Border with a more climate resilient planting scheme. The first bed was planted last Spring and has taken extremely well with the plants coping with virtually no water at all over the exceptionally dry
summer. Visitors have commented on how nice the new scheme is and thank you for the lovely feedback.
Further jobs this month are planting out the garlic, winter salads, annual flower seeds in the cutting garden along with early sowing of Broad beans and Peas and getting the bare root plant such as Irises and Trees into the soil. The soil is fundamental to our success in
growing and we have been improving the soil health year on year. This month you will start to see (and smell) a lot of manure and mulch being barrowed along the paths to spread over the beds! The worms and winter frosts can then get to work on breaking it all down ready for next year.
Hedge trimming, pruning and bulb planting all start in October as well. The first bulbs to go in will be Narcissi, Daffodil and Crocus with our wonderful volunteers helping us to plant 1000s of Crocuses along the North wall to add to those we planted last year.
Finally, we have been harvesting the Apples, Pears and Pumpkins! The apples and pears have been taken to Laprig Valley near Denholm for pressing into juice and the Pumpkins will be put out onto our sales table for visitors to purchase pre-Halloween.
Happy Pumpkin Carving and we hope to see you in the Gardens soon!
(The Gardens remain open 7 days a week, and our Autumn/Winter Gardens Ticket is now only £3 and will remain so until Easter 2027.)
