To Do List, Part 4 - October to December

Part 4 of a series of articles which will give you a month by month guide on caring for your hostas. This will include tips for you to use at home and an insight into the growing methods we use at the nursery.

In this fourth and final instalment we look at everything that you need to do with your hostas between October and December. It's always a bit of a bittersweet time of year for us; on one hand we are ready for a rest and on the other we know that spells the end of the hostas for another year.

October

Well, October is really when hostas are starting to die back and they no longer looking very nice. This can be a sad time, but hopefully if you've been reading our To Do Lists throughout the year, your plants have been fantastic. Here's your October To Do List.

Move young or fragile plants in pots to a sheltered position ready for Winter. An unheated greenhouse, shed or garage is ideal. The easiest way for your young plants to die over the Winter months is from becoming too wet rather than being too cold. Put them under shelter and water once every few weeks to keep the soil from drying out completely.
Leave the leaves on your plants even if they have started to die back...more on this later.

November

By November it is unlikely any of your plants will have much colour left and most will be brown and starting to die back. At this stage of the year the 'To Do List' is short.

Clean areas where you have potted plants. Built up debris and grime can help diseases overwinter and infect your plants when they reappear in the Spring. Good house keeping goes a long way.

December

It's the end of the year and hostas are probably the last thing on your mind, but putting a little work in now will make your Spring display that much better.

Clear the old leaves away from your hostas, slugs will very often lay their eggs in the crowns of the plants under the old foliage. By exposing the eggs you leave them vulnerable to birds and the Winter weather. This will help control early slug populations in your garden. By leaving the leaves untouched until now (see October list), they will come away cleaner and won't leave strands behind.
Get the leaf blower or a rake out and clear any fallen leaves from overhanging trees that have gathered on your flower beds and pots. Just like our last point, leaf debris will only assist the slugs over the Winter.

Thank you for reading our To Do Lists. For information on what to do in January to March please start again with To Do List, Part 1 - January to March.

These lists act as guidance, there are of course other things that you can do throughout the year, but these are just some of the things that we do and we have found help towards producing quality hostas. If there is anything that you believe would be worth adding to the To Do Lists please leave your comments below in the relative To Do List.