These garden activities for October have us busy seed saving and celebrating apples. Join us!
Garden activities for October
Welcome to our garden classroom! This post is part of our Kids Gardening Activities. You can use our month-by-month garden guides for your school gardening club, community garden or at home with your family and I’ll show you what to plant, harvest, do, make and learn each month of the year. You will also find more ideas and inspiration in my book, The Garden Classroom.
Here’s my guide for what to do in the garden in October.
#1 What to plant in October
October is the month to plant garlic. Pick hard neck or soft neck varieties for the colour and flavour strength you want, divide up each garlic bulb and plant the individual cloves. You might also fit in a final sowing of winter plants such as mizuna, winter lettuce and salad leaves.
#2 Save your seeds
Gather all the seeds you can this month so you’ll be able to plant them to grow your own, sustainable, plants next year.
Beans and peas can be left to dry in pods on their stalks. Look around under where nasturtiums are growing to find their seeds turning from bright green knobbly globes into paler yellow and drier ones.
Sunflower heads can be placed undercover to dry before you pull them apart to get at all the seeds. Do leave some seed heads out for the birds to eat too. You’ll find printable seed packets you can use to label and store all your sunflower seeds in our Sunflower School kit.
Calendula seeds can be gathered by hand. For smaller plants such as coriander, you can cover the plant heads with a small bag, held in place with an elastic band, to catch the tiny seeds as they pop open on the plants.
All your seeds need to be left for a few weeks to thoroughly dry out before being stored in paper bags. Some people like to place the dried seeds in the freezer for a few days to kill off any bugs or eggs, before defrosting and storing in a dry place over winter.
#3 Apple festival
Host an apple festival this month as you enjoy harvesting these autumn fruits. Play Adacemy members can use this ready-made Apples teaching kit. You can also learn about apples and take an apple taste test.
#4 What to harvest in October
Gather apples, pears, and pumpkins this month.
#5 Autumn nature table
Enjoy learning about the season and transition the garden from outdoors to inside by setting up an autumn nature table.
#6 Leaf art projects
And capture the beauty of October in an autumnal art project. Try leaf printing, leaf bookmarks or make an autumn wreath.
#7 Get The Garden Classroom guide
My book The Garden Classroom is bursting with ideas you can use to make the most of the math, science, literacy, art and play waiting for you outdoors. This is your go-to book to give your children a connection with nature, and is full of creative ways to use the garden to inspire learning. See more and get your copy here.
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