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September Gardening Blog
It’s September, a month of perfectly ironed school shirts, a new day back at work after a Summer holiday and slightly cooler evenings (which we’re grateful for after those hot August days)!
As we say goodbye to Summer and hello to Autumn, now is the perfect time to start planning in the garden, so you can guarantee colour in late Winter as well as planting bulbs for the start of Spring. It’s also a great month to give everything a little bit of a tidy up ahead of those darker evenings.
For many of us, our gardens have been well used these past few months – whether its enjoying family BBQs, children cooling down in the paddling pool or the constant watering we all had to do on those super-hot days, our lawns have gone through it all. So, it is time to give it some much needed TLC.
We’ve pulled together our top gardening jobs for this month and it already feels like it’s going to be a busy one!
GENERAL GARDENING
- Start planting hardy annuals like scabiosa and cornflowers, if you do this now you will start flowering early next summer.
- Cut back lavender to ensure it doesn’t become tall and leggy. But, don’t go into the old, brown wood because it won’t grow back!
- Plant out pansies, violas and other winter bedding in pots and borders.
- Deadhead your dahlias – to ensure your dahlias keep flowering until late Summer, deadhead them regularly and cut them back to the leaf joint rather than just the flower.
- Cyclamen and heucheras are great plants for this time of year, adding colour and interest in spaces where Summer annuals may have finished.
- If you have any houseplants outside bring them back in before the temperatures start to decline.
- Spring bulbs are back! You can plant them in pots and borders.
- Trim your conifer hedges to tidy them up so they do not go out of control
- Any sunflower seedheads that you have left, leave them for birds to feed on.
- Feed your lawn! Whether you need to re-seed or fertiliser your lawn, now is the time to do it. Check out our range of Lawn care products here >
We have a great selection of Autumn planters and hanging baskets now available in store and online, a great way to add colour and interest this time of year. Be sure to keep deadheading the flowers and you can keep enjoying them throughout Winter.
FRUIT & VEG JOBS
- Sow in hardy green vegetables like kale, cress, Pak choi, lettuce for winter takings
- For a good crop, plant your garlic now so that it has good time to produce a large bulb.
- Make sure to summer prune your Apple Trees to allow for good fruiting in years to come
- Plant your onion and shallots in sunny areas, 10cm apart, make sure the tip of the onion and shallot is just above the soil
- Any fruit trees you have make sure to pick your fresh fruit before the wind knocks them down and makes them uneatable.
GREENHOUSE JOBS
- Plant your hyacinth bulbs early in pots now for fragrant indoor flowers at Christmas time.
- Make sure to get rid of any pests and diseases you find in the greenhouse
- Water houseplants less frequently as it isn’t as hot anymore and move them off windowsills during cold nights
- Pot up herbs such as chives, lemon balm and mint for a good crop in Winter
- Look out for cold nights, make sure your heaters are working, add fleece to your plants if needed and make sure to close your greenhouse windows when the temperature drops.
GARDEN MAINTENANCE JOBS
- Ensure your waterbutts are cleaned out so they can collect autumnal rain
- Wash your bird feeders and tables to ensure cleanliness and hygiene
- Hunt for beetles on your lavender and rosemary picking them off and their grey larvae
- Get some bare-root fruit trees to plant later in autumn or winter
- Check roses for any signs of fungal disease like blackspot and bin off all affected leaves, including those on the floor around the plant as this will continue to spread the disease.
