Jobs for October

Plant daffodils and other spring bulbs if you haven't already done so, but leave tulips until next month.

Plant up a pot ready for the winter months - suitable plants include pernettya, variegated sage, hellebores, cylamen, voilas, hyacinths, muscari and skimmia rubella. Add some ivy to trail down the sides of the pot.

Clean out the greenhouse ready for overwintering tender plants.

Sow hardy annuals direct outdoors for earlier flowers next year - prepare a patch of ground by weeding thoroughly and raking the soil to a fine tilth. Sow the seed in drifts for a natural look. Suitable flowers include calendula, cornflower, ammi majus and orlaya.

Sow sweet peas in 12cm pots or root trainers (or taller yoghurt pots with holes pierced into the bottoms are ideal.) Sow 3 or 4 into each pot, cover with an inch of soil and leave outside in a sheltered spot until they've germinated. Protect from the mice as they love the seed! Keep them out of the worst of the winter weather, or put them in an unheated greenhouse. By January they'll need their tips pinched out to encourage strong bushy side shoots. Plant out in March.

Don't cut back everything in the garden - leave some areas until spring so that insects and other wildlife have some protection for the winter.