The first proper gale usually arrives in October, and it will find every loose fence panel and blocked drain you meant to sort out in September. Coastal gardens get a long warning: the wind swings round, salt films the windows, and the sea turns a dull pewter. Use it. The jobs below pay you back between September and November, while the soil is still warm enough for roots to move and there is still light after work to get them done.
Walk the windbreak before the gales
Spend an hour walking the boundary of your plot with secateurs and a notebook, and look low as well as high. Wind accelerates through gaps at ground level, and a single hole in an otherwise solid barrier does more damage than the barrier does good.
Hedges
Escallonia, griselinia, pittosporum, olearia and sea buckthorn all cope with salt and exposure, but they only filter wind properly if they are dense to the base. Trim lightly now to tidy the shape, and avoid cutting hard into old, leafless wood, which rarely regrows on a windy site. If a shrub has been rocked loose, firm it back in, water it well and mulch around it. Sea buckthorn spreads by suckers, so keep it where that does not matter.
Fences, gates and gutters
Replace split panels, re-brace leaning posts and oil the hinges. A gate that swings open in a gale will take the post with it. Slatted screens, hazel hurdles and double rows of hedging let some wind through, which is usually kinder to the plants behind than a solid wall that sends the wind up and over. Clear leaves from gutters and gullies, and strap or empty water butts, which tip over surprisingly easily.
Staking, tying and firm footing
Check every stake and tie you put in last autumn. Trees rock, bark rubs, and a tie that was snug in spring can strangle a trunk within a season. Use soft ties or rubber straps, check them monthly and loosen as the trunk thickens.
For bare-root trees, a short stake angled into the prevailing wind is usually better than a tall one, because it lets the top of the tree move and build a stronger trunk. Re-tie climbers on wires with something soft; old twine cuts as it tightens. Newly planted evergreens, phormiums and cordylines are the first things to suffer in an exposed spot, so firm them in and consider a temporary screen of netting for their first winter. Leave the ornamental grasses standing — a loop of soft string around the clump stops it splaying without cutting it back before late winter.
Fix drainage while the soil is still warm
Stand outside in the first heavy rain of September and watch where the water goes. Coastal plots often drain fast at the front and badly at the back, where clay, old paving or a sea wall stops water moving. Lavender, rosemary, cistus and thyme rot quietly in winter wet, and you usually only notice in spring, when there is a gap and a grey stump where the bush used to be.
Fork over compacted ground and work in grit and garden compost to open it up. Set Mediterranean plants on a slight mound or in a raised bed. Where water gathers in a hollow, dig a soakaway filled with rubble, or run a shallow channel towards a drain, and make sure ditches, gullies and downpipe outlets are clear before the first storm. Keep off wet beds so you do not compact them further.
Mulch after rain, but mind the salt
Mulch when the ground is damp and still warm, not bone dry, because a layer spread on dry soil keeps the rain out rather than holding moisture in. Work 5–8cm of garden compost, leaf mould or well-rotted manure over the beds, keeping it clear of stems, crowns and the base of shrubs.
On sandy coastal soil this is the single best way to hold water and nutrients through winter. Fresh seaweed is useful but salty: if you collect from the shore, check with the local council or landowner first, take only loose weed rather than stripping the beach, and rinse or compost it before use. Salt spray landing on a mulch is washed in by rain, so do not worry about that. Do worry about piling mulch against a woody stem, which invites rot.
Plant while the ground holds its warmth
Autumn is the best planting season on the coast. The soil is warm, rain does the watering, and roots settle in before the cold. Bare-root hedging and trees can go in from November, and native species such as hawthorn, blackthorn and rosa rugosa are tough, cheap and quick to knit together into a windbreak.
Plant narcissi, alliums, crocus and muscari now. In light sandy soil, set daffodil bulbs deeper than the packet suggests and cover pots with grit to stop birds and squirrels digging them out. Divide crowded perennials, take hardwood cuttings, and sow grass seed in early September rather than late October. Anything tender — basil, lemon verbena, young palms — is better left until spring.
Pots, tender plants and glass
Raise containers onto feet so they drain, and group them against a warm wall for shelter. Wrap terracotta and glazed pots in hessian or bubble wrap; terracotta cracks once it freezes, and a cracked pot is a dead plant. Move pelargoniums, fuchsias and agapanthus under cover, lift dahlias after the first frost, or mulch their crowns thickly and take your chances.
In the greenhouse, check clips, vents and door catches before the first gale, because a loose pane of glass is dangerous as well as expensive. Clean the glass now for winter light, and ventilate on mild days to keep mould at bay.
Your month-by-month checklist
If you only manage a few hours a month, spend them here.
- September: clear gutters, gullies and drains; trim hedges lightly; sow grass seed; plant bulbs; fork over compacted soil; order bare-root hedging.
- October: plant bare-root trees and hedging; mulch after rain; lift dahlias once frosted; move tender pots under cover; do a full stake and tie check.
- November: plant tulips; finish bare-root planting; wrap pots; mulch crowns and tender shrubs; re-check ties after the first gale.
- When a gale is forecast: stow furniture, parasols and empty troughs; secure gate latches; fill or empty water butts; have boards or sandbags ready where water comes under a door. Walk the plot afterwards and firm in anything the wind has lifted.
The last calm hour
Before the first named storm, take a torch and do one slow circuit: ties, latches, pots, drains. Then leave it alone. A coastal garden is slow to settle, but by December the structure is doing the work — the hedge is filtering the wind, the mulch is holding the soil, and the roots you put in during September are quietly getting on with it. If a spell of onshore gales leaves foliage looking scorched, a quick rinse with a hose on a mild, damp day helps. Otherwise, wait for spring and enjoy the seedheads rattling in the wind.
Photo: Mariakray / Pixabay
