It can be a sad, grey month, October. The clocks change, giving us less time in the evening to get outside and the weather isn’t conducive to lovely suppers on the patio with a glass of wine. But we gardeners can look on the brighter side; getting the garden ready for winter has a kind of end of season satisfaction about it. After all, it is the time to plan for next year and if we get it right we can look forward to a great display in 2012. Even if we get it wrong there is fun in filling the gap with a new purchase next spring.

Planting bulbs in pots or straight into the garden is so easy – just plant them twice their depth and the pointy side up. Job done. One of my favourite bits of our garden last year was a tall pot filled with big, blousy tulips and a few forget me not seedlings I gently relocated from one of my flower beds. It only took 5 minutes to plant up, but was pretty for weeks. Keeping the wildlife from eating bulbs is a huge preoccupation here. Mice love to eat crocus bulbs and squirrels munch happily on tulips, the more expensive the better. Last year I soaked them in tonic water with quinine and it worked to some extent. They are supposed to dislike the bitterness, I’ll certainly try it again this time. Alliums are worth their weight in gold in the garden. They bring height, structure and a gorgeous splash of colour to the early summer garden; one of the best and earliest is ‘Purple Sensation’. They seed about when happy and the seed heads look lovely. As they are a member of the onion family, nothing eats them either, result!

Ornamental grasses have been beautiful this year at ‘Charnwood’, surviving the drought really well. Some look good well into October including a tall Miscanthus with stripy leaves and deep purple flowerheads that turn the most vibrant Autumn colours. The time to plant or divide them is in spring when they have started to regrow, so I’m planning to do just that next year. They are such graceful, easy plants, giving an ethereal quality to the border. Another favourite is Molina ‘Skyracer’. It grows big, as you would expect from its name, with very tall (around 2 metres) but dainty flowerheads. Grasses look especially good in association with small flowered plants, such as michaelmas daises, catmint, verbena bonariensis or phlox. This is sometime referred to as ‘prairie style planting’ and if you are a Gardeners World fan, you will have seen on the TV the astonishingly beautiful Millennium garden at Penshurst last month. The chief advocate and expert in prairie planting is Piet Oudolf who was also featured. I can heartily recommend his books if you want inspiration or a good gift.

I’m not taking any chances this year given how much we lost last winter. As soon as the dahlias suffer the first frost, they will be dug up and overwintered in a cool place where I can keep an eye on them. Cuttings are already taken of plants not reliably hardy and tender perennials such as melianthus, agapanthus and gunneras will be given a good, deep mulch. Cordylines will be gently tied up in a bunch to protect their crowns. Acers and other prize plants in pots are in a sheltered place where the frost and cold winds can’t do their worst. This time I’ll be ready!