Vital job gardeners must do this October to ensure lush crops of fruit and vegetables next year

There is no feeling quite so satisfying as harvesting a successful crop of fruit and that you've grown yourself from start to finish. Keen will know October is an important time of year to set yourself up and ensure the crops you get next year are seriously lush and bountiful, but that does mean this month comes with a pretty long to-do list if you're green-fingered.

Whether you have a large allotment or a more compact at home, anyone can grow at least some of their own food. If you're a total novice to growing your own food or have pretty limited experience, it's understandable that this comprehensive list of jobs for October might seem a little bit daunting - but bear in mind that you can narrow down what you choose to grow to make it as manageable as you need, and as you feel more confident, you can always increase your targets each year.

According to the experts at one of the most important things you can do this month is get cracking with pruning and cutting back a lot of your established veggies and other plants. All this year's crops that are finished should be gotten rid of because they can end up home to some nasty diseases and pests, and make sure you trim asparagus down to the ground if you have some growing in your green space. Blackberries and raspberries should also be pruned on stems that have borne fruit, right down to the ground.

If you are lucky enough to have a fig tree and some of its fruit never became fully ripe, you should whip these off, and pumpkins and squash should be brought off the ground - ideally onto bricks where they will get a lot of sun that can help ripen their skins properly. Gardener's World recommends taking cuttings of rosemary, thyme, and other shrubby herbs at this time of year, as well as dividing other herbs - these include marjoram, chives, and lemon balm, and a bonus of this job is you can spread some of the love and share these out with your family, friends, and neighbours.

A crucial October job is sowing manure, and protecting your soil throughout the winter, the experts recommend using winter rye for this. If you have salad leaves growing, you should invest in a cloche or some other kind of frost protection to ensure they don't get damaged. When it comes to planting, this is the month to sow garlic, broad beans, peas, and spring cabbages, and "Order bare-root fruit trees and bushes for planting from late autumn to early spring," the experts explain.

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