HERE at Ford Park most of our energy this weekend will be spent on Apple Day, but the day is of course a culmination of hard work that goes on all year round, as any gardener knows.

Since we carefully picked our apples, watching that we did not bruise them, we have been checking them over, removing any imperfect ones to eat or cook, so that they don’t spread damage to others.

We make sure that we keep varieties separate so we enjoy them at the time of year when they are known to be at their best. You might think that an apple is ready to eat when you pick it off the tree. Have you ever thought a just-picked apple is a bit sharp or watery or not very aromatic? (That’s unlikely, because anything fresh is delicious.) However many apples improve on storage, particularly the cooking varieties and the same is true of most pears. We picked our Beurre Hardy pears early and now they are ready to go into delicious apple and pear turnovers (with Arthur Turner apples). Get to our Apple Day tea stall early to make sure you get one. Individual tarts are also on sale, made with Lane’s Prince Albert apples and our lovely autumn raspberries.

As I’ve said, although we are starting to enjoy them now, we keep the apples in mind throughout the year. At the moment as well as harvesting, we are mulching the ground around them to ensure that the nutrients in the soil are not washed away in autumn rains. We continue to check the amount of flowers and foliage growing around them in our mixed borders because good air circulation prevents pests and diseases. In winter we will be carrying out formative pruning just before the surge of growth in spring. The ground under the trees will be fed with comfrey liquid and wood ash. We will be watching for competition again from surrounding plants throughout the growing season. Fruits will be ‘thinned’ in July. Although it is delightful to see a good set of apples, we will get healthier and larger individual fruits if some are removed. In August we prune again to reduce the vigour of the plant and divert energy to fruit production and ensure leaves are not shading ripening fruits from the sun. Then it’s harvest time and Apple Day again!

Among the celebration and fun at this time of year, thoughts also turn to long term and ongoing maintenance jobs in the garden and one of those is the lawn. If the lawn is well used and likely to go through periods of being very wet, and particularly if it is on clay soil it may benefit from improved drainage.

There are tasks you can carry out in the autumn which may help to reduce the damage caused in the winter by weather and ongoing use - games on the lawn on a good day or even walking across it to the bird feeder and back everyday. Alternatively you can think about changing the way you mow, feed and weed your lawn throughout the year to improve its chances of draining water from the surface in the winter.

If you want to tackle the issue now, the traditional method is to aerate the lawn with a fork. Make as many holes as possible, driving a digging fork as deeply as you can all over the lawn. You must then fill the holes with sand to avoid them closing up again. Sand will introduce tiny air spaces which directly help drainage as well as improving the aerobic quality of the soil and therefore make it a more attractive environment for worms. Worms themselves create drainage channels too.

If you want to think about using wildlife in the soil to help your lawn, there is a lot that you can do to help your lawn and help wildlife throughout the year. If you don’t apply lawn food you will not be making the soil too acidic and therefore the worms will be happier. If you let the short grass clippings mulch down rather than collecting them, the worms will drag them down and improve your soil structure and fertility. Worms really are the answer to a good lawn.

Not according to some gardeners however. Traditionally, removing worm casts from the surface of the soil was advised so that weed seeds didn’t germinate in them. However, the weeds could well be attractive flowers - clover, daisies, hawkbit, plantain, prunella, yarrow and violas. A diversity of plants in the lawn helps it to stay green in dry periods as well as provide pollen and nectar sources for bees. The varying depths of roots help to draw up a wider variety of nutrients to help the health of your lawn, and tap roots help drainage as well. So even the dandelion is beneficial! Gardeners are always up for a good debate - I am sure I have started one here!

Enjoy your weekend, I hope we see you at Ford Park for Apple Day on Saturday. If the weather drives you indoors next week, you could always find someone to debate lawns with!