Gardening Advice and Helpful Tips
Your gardening advice for September.
Will Clark
Plant Area Manager
September is such a wonderful time to be in the garden. Will Clark shares his top jobs for planting and harvesting this month.
1. Branch out
Your local garden centre will have a wide range of trees and shrubs that can be planted now and settled in before winter kicks in. Acers, Malus and Sorbus trees are guaranteed to fill your garden with fabulous autumnal foliage colour and autumn berry interest. Shrubs like Caryopteris, Leucothoe, Perovskia and Skimmia also provide colour and interest throughout autumn while providing some structure to your borders.
2. Super grasses
Grasses and late flowering perennials will bring height and drama to your autumn planting schemes. Combine Miscanthus, Panicum and Imperata with Crocosmia, Echinacea and Rudbeckia to create a beautiful prairie style garden.
3. Layer up
Create a bulb lasagne container of spring flowering bulbs to guarantee colour from September to late spring. Layer your chosen container with horticultural potting grit or broken terracotta pieces to aid with drainage, add in a layer of peat free multi-purpose compost then plant even layers of daffodils, Tulips, Hyacinths, and Muscari. Finally top off with compost. You can add some seasonal colour such as Pansies or Violas to finish. Belissimo!
4. Harvest festival
Potatoes planted in spring are ready to lift after the plants have flowered. The longer you leave them, the larger the potatoes should be. But don’t leave it too late because blight might strike. It’s time to pick summer fruiting raspberries too.
5. Know your onions
Overwintering onion sets are available now. Prepare an area in a sunny and well drained position adding fish blood and bone fertiliser to the soil. Make a shallow drill and place the sets in pointy end up 15 cm apart in rows 30 cm apart. Cover the set with soil leaving the tip showing. Watch out for birds pulling the sets out of the ground. It can be helpful to cover the area with fleece to prevent this.
6. Lawn love
Now is a good time to give your lawn a spread of autumn fertiliser. This will help to strengthen the roots, kill off the moss and help your lawn look nice and lush.
7. Divide and conquer
Once perennials have finished flowering you can lift well-established clumps or any plants that are starting to go bare and divide them. It’s best to do this with perennials that flower in early summer.
8. Tidy up
As summer (if we can call if that!) rolls to an end, it’s a good idea to have a clean-up so the garden is all set for winter. It’s always nice to have an autumn bonfire too!
9. Topping off
Once your borders are looking neat and tidy, you can spread a thick layer of compost, or a new layer of mulch to help trap in the warmth and moisture.
10. Indian summer
One last thing, if it turns out to be a warm September keep on watering. It’s sometimes easy to forget when we think summer is over!
Feature plant: Rudbeckia ‘Little Goldstar’
Rudbeckias are a wonderful perennial to give your garden a lift in late summer and autumn with their masses of bright and cheerful golden daisy flowers.
More Advice?
Ruth McNamee
Greenhouse Senior
October on the Veg Plot...
October is a great month to get ahead in the veg patch, writes Ruth McNamee.
Choose a sunny sheltered spot to sow broad beans. The variety Aquadulce Claudia does well from autumn sowing. Sow a double row with seeds 20cm apart. These plants should germinate, stand over winter and quickly establish when the weather warms. The crop can be enjoyed a couple of weeks earlier than spring sown seeds.
You can start to plant out garlic this month 15cm apart in rows 30cm apart. This can be left to next month if preferred. And there is still time to plant out overwintering onions. Make a shallow drill and place the sets pointy end up 15cms apart in rows 30cms apart. Onions are ready to harvest early next summer. Try onion and garlic in big pots and keep in a sheltered spot for the best results.
October is a great month to get your permanent planting done. It’s a good time to establish your fruit and asparagus beds while the soil is still warm from the summer heat. Rhubarb and asparagus crowns will now be available in the garden centre. Prepare the beds by removing all weeds. These crops will be in these beds for many years so it helps to give them a good start.
May is the month where strawberries flower so mulch plants with straw.
Prune early flowering shrubs such as the Forsynthia and Weigela.
Direct sow basil next to tomato seedlings to help draw white fly away.
Veg seeds that can be sown outdoors include courgette, beetroot and sprouts.
Lift and divide your spring bulbs and plant where you want for next year.
Check all foliage for lily beetle and greenfly and dispose of any found.
Gardening Jobs for January
Buy seeds to be sown in January or February.
Buy seed potatoes, onion sets and garlic.
Appraise the garden for form and structure, and plan alterations and additions.
Plant window boxes and containers for seasonal colour.
Protect vulnerable plants from frost and wind damage.
Firm in any autumn-planted shrubs and border plants lifted by frost.
Knock snow off branches, especially on conifers and hedges, if they are bending under the weight.
Check stakes and ties on newly planted trees.
Remember the birds in the garden and put out food for them, especially when it’s frosty.
