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Dry tomatoes and other fruits to keep them in perfect condition for deliciously nutritious snacks right through winter.

Dry Tomatoes

Dried tomatoes are a classic of Italian cuisine and for sheer tastiness there are few better ways to preserve your surplus tomato crop. You can also dry apples, pears and apricots; and you can wow the kids by drying berry fruits into ‘fruit leathers’, perfectly preserved strips of dried fruit you can ro...

Clear away plant supports as part of your end-of- season clear up and store them carefully for next year.

Clear Away Those Plant Supports

Whether they’re bamboo canes, hazel rods, or metal plant grids and obelisks they’ll do sterling service for years to come if you treat them well now.

Untwine old plant stems and cart them off to the compost heap as long as they weren’t diseased (in which case put them in with the green waste collection or bu...

Ripen the last of the green tomatoes now before it’s too late. There are always a few underripe tomatoes left at the end of the season, but there’s still time to persuade at least some of them to turn red before the first frosts.

Persuade those Tomatoes!

First, 'stop' your plants by removing growing tips so they're concentrating on fruit rather than new foliage. Then maximise what heat there is by detaching plants from supports and laying them flat o...

The brilliant colours of autumn, caught by rays of mellow sunshine, are among the highlights of the gardening year. It’s also time to put the garden gently to bed, so there’s plenty to get on with this month!

General tasks:

Go on a slug and snail hunt looking for both pests and clumps of their pearly white eggs.

Clear autumn leaves from flower beds regularly, especially if they’re collecting in the crowns of p...

Over one in ten native species of plant and wildlife in Britain are facing extinction, and about half are in decline according to the latest analysis of the state of wildlife in our country today.

Is Britain's Wildlife facing Extinction?

Over 50 plant conservation and wildlife organisations pooled resources to create the State of Nature report, monitoring almost 10,000 species from plants and lichens to birds and butterflies.

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