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September is with us and suddenly there is a subtle change as harvesting starts to take over from propagation in how you spend your time in your garden!
We have had some well needed rain down here in the south-west and in my opinion, vegetables are cropping that bit earlier and the same is true for flowers blooming!
But the year moves on, so let’s see what tasks await us in our September garden!
Oh dear, like August, our lawns have been going through it, but hey! don’t despair, Septembers here and the ‘rains are coming!’
Be patient and when the lawn has had a good soaking you can begin that important lawn maintenance!
Should the rain be heavy, then it’s an opportunity to ‘spike’ the lawn surface with a garden fork to prevent standing water.
Next task? ‘Scarifying’.
The lawn is vigorously raked through with a ‘spring-tine’ rake to remove ‘thatch’ (old dead grass and other detritus). It also allows the roots to breathe.
I recommend doing a few square at a time. It’s pretty hard work!
At last! Time to think of some over-sowing!
Use a quality lawn seed mix mixed with compost and a little fertiliser, to sow thinly across the surface of your damaged lawn and rake in gently.
Make sure you keep the lawn moist until the seed has germinated and the seedlings have established.
The lawn may or may not create a lot of work in September, but your flower border areas are definitely going to keep you busy!
Keep your summer flowers in borders, baskets and containers going by ‘dead-heading’ both annuals and perennials to encourage more blooms!
You may want to save, (and dry off for next year), seed of some of your favourite plants.
While talking flowers, how about some early colour in spring?
If you’ve a suitable patch, sow direct ‘hardy’ annuals such as scabious, cornflowers, calendulas, and larkspur for a riot of colour out of season!
By contrast, it’s also time for sowing seed of plants for winter/spring flowering like pansies, wallflowers etc.
Pay attention to your summer flowering bulbs e.g. gladioli. Lift and allow the corms to dry and store in a dry shed or garage for planting in spring.
Sometimes perennial plants become dense and overcrowded. Lift them and separate for planting elsewhere.
Take cuttings of pelargoniums and fuchsias to increase your stocks or replace old ‘leggy’ plants.
September marks the start of outdoor bulb planting! Narcissi are always very popular.
Tried growing your own hyacinths for flowering indoors at Christmas?
Make sure you buy bulbs marked ‘prepared’. They have been specially treated to flower early for Christmas. When potted keep them under a greenhouse bench until the bulb shoots emerge. A windowsill then is fine.
Lost any shrubs in the dry weather this summer?
They had a hard time last winter too!
‘Bare-root’ plants (much cheaper than those in pots) will soon be available. Perhaps you want to replace a favourite, or maybe try one of a host of new varieties?
Many gardeners do not realise the importance of watering for camellias and rhododendrons at this time.
Flower buds are now initiating for next winter/spring flowering so for a great flowering display, get that hose out!
Your vegetable gardens should now be groaning with the weight of produce from this year’s efforts! However, there is a limit to what we can consume immediately so its time for freezing or maybe pickling or drying? Its’s a busy time!
In the greenhouse, remove the growing points of cordon tomatoes. This will help remaining fruit to ripen. Towards the end of the month, cut off remaining trusses from outdoor varieties and take inside to ripen.
A couple of weeks before lifting your maincrop potatoes, cut off any remaining foliage at ground level. Choose a dry day and lift the potatoes. Let them dry for a few hours then store them in paper or hessian sacks in a garage or dry shed.
Clear surrounding leaves from remaining squashes and marrows to encourage sun ripening.If you have grown winter greens, now’s the time to cover them with netting to deter marauding pigeons!
Sweet corn should be ready for harvest. Push a thumbnail into a seed and if a milky white liquid appears, then the corn is ready for harvest!
When clearing away pea and bean plants, cut the plants away at ground level. The roots contain nitrogen which filters into the soil to improve fertility.
For fresh crops next year you can be sowing early varieties of broad beans and peas.
Pop into the garden centre for autumn planted onions and shallots.
Pot up herbs such as chives and parsley for winter leaves in the kitchen.
Winter lettuce, lambs lettuce, pak choi and land cress can also be sown at this time.
Early apple and pear varieties will be ready for picking, with mid-season types to follow.
Always pick direct from the tree for the best quality.
Want to know if an apple is ready to harvest?
Hold a fruit in your open hand and pull gently. If it comes away readily its ready for harvest.
Often some plums are still cropping in September.
Pick your autumn fruiting raspberries regularly for the best crops.
If you haven’t already done so, cut back summer fruiting types to overwinter.
Check over your strawberry plants, cleaning up and removing any straw used for cropping. Leaving it will encourage pests to overwinter for next spring!
I remember writing last summer that it had been a trying year for growing in the garden. Now we have another one!
Perhaps September will be kinder to us!
