Nature Features

Ian and his wife are very fond of their garden. "It's a great hobby - we like the little greenhouse we've built here and we like growing things there."

The garden includes an expansive stretch of lawn, a pond, flowers and plants and a vegetable garden. At the top of the garden is a fruit garden and some rabbits.

Ian picks a daisy from his garden

Here are some of Ian's tips on maintaining your garden as autumn draws near.

Lawns

According to Ian if you use a lower cut on the lawn during the summer months it is going to burn or go brown. He suggests cutting the lawn once every fortnight at this time of year in order to keep it green.

"If you really prune the thing far too badly then of course the grass can't take in the moisture and when it comes, of course, everything dries off."

Ian suggests that in the early autumn you scarify the lawn. This process involves removing all the dead grass, weeds and grass clippings that may have built up over the summer months. It frees up growth for the springtime.

It's important to keep ponds clean

Ponds

It is important to fill your pond with plenty of oxygenating plants to help create a clean pond. "I do love ponds," said Ian, "and an awful lot of people like ponds, but try and keep the water clear especially if you've got fish."

Also if you're landscaping, consider the location of the pond - "the thing you don't want to do is to dig a pond and put it under trees because the leaves will fall on the pond - that's not good at all."

Top tips for plants

Ian advises people to wait until November to cut down their hydrangeas. "If you've got hydrangeas in bloom dying off now, the birds will go for the seeds in the heads - but don't tackle your hydrangeas until November, 'cos the young buds are coming through for next year."

It is helpful to deadhead plants during autumn. Ian explained that the plants are "desperate to make seed." If you keep deadheading plants they will eventually produce more seeds.

When it comes to vegetables, Ian's tomatoes have done quite well this year. He recommends using "a little bit of fertiliser, but not too often otherwise you'll get a damp thing off the bottom of the fruit." Ian suggests pinching off the head and letting the fruit come away.

Home-grown aubergines and tomatoes

At the top of Ian's garden fruit can be found. "The apples have done wonderfully well this year, plums are good, as you can see the apple crop is very very good." Ian's advice is not to pick apples to early. He suggests picking apples bit by bit, right the way through the season.

Rabbits

Ian's advice on rabbits is to put rabbit guards around young trees: "This is terribly important because there's an awful lot of rabbits on the island just now, but the young rabbits are the worst of all."

According to Ian, young rabbits like to nibble the bark from the fruit trees. If the bark is nibbled all the way around the plant will die. He recommends using apple guards to protect trees.

Relax!

It can be hard work maintaining a garden. Ian suggests gardeners take time to enjoy the fruits of their labour: "Once you've worked hard in the garden you can sit down, have a look and enjoy yourself - perhaps with a bottle of wine."