This month’s jobs for the garden – prolong blooming while you start sorting for next season, says gardener Pete Harcom
t’s time to get back out there! There are lots of jobs to do in the garden this month. As well as general garden-keeping, re-assessing and preparing for next year is also on the cards – it’s time to think about what worked and what didn’t!
As you have a general tidy-up of any potting sheds, greenhouses and the garden itself, you’ll inevitably find yourself planning for next year. When you plan your jobs for September, be sure to include:
In the greenhouse
Clean out cold frames and greenhouses ahead of autumn sowing and growing. Bring potting compost and seed compost into the greenhouse in preparation. Remove shading from your greenhouse towards the end of the month so that plants get the maximum light available.
Odd jobs
Netting your pond can reduce autumn leaf-fall entering the water.
Continue to feed and deadhead hanging baskets and container plants – they will often keep going until the first frosts.
Keep deadheading perennials and annuals to extend their flowering, too.
Raise pots off the ground for the winter by using bricks or ‘pot feet’, to prevent waterlogging.
Prune climbing roses and rambling roses once they’ve finished flowering (unless they are repeat-flowering varieties, in which case leave them until later in the year).
Planting
Now is the time to plant your spring-flowering bulbs, such as daffodils, hyacinths and crocus – the garden centres are now stocking them. While you’re there, add some wallflowers and pansies as plug plants: they’re welcome early-flowering support for insects after the winter months.
Divide any herbaceous perennials such as achillea, ajuga, campanula, centaurea, chrysanthemum, geranium, phlox, salvias, verbascum and verbena. They can all be dug up this month once they’ve finished flowering and split to increase your stock. Make sure they are watered well after re-planting.
Garden recycling tips
Create or purchase a compost bin in preparation for all the fallen leaves and dead plant material which you’ll be collecting over the coming months. Autumn leaves make a great addition to compost bins and are ideal for making leaf mould.
If you don’t have one, install a water butt to collect rain this autumn and winter – rain water is great for watering ericaceous plants such as blueberries, rhododendrons and camellias.
Retain water wherever possible – old washing up water can also be used for watering (when cool). And don’t throw away the hot water when you boil vegetables for meals – pop outside and pour it over the weeds that are appearing on the patio. Scalding hot water is guaranteed to damage even the toughest of weeds!
And if I’m not too late, remember that lolly sticks can be re-used as brilliant plant labels!
Sponsored by Thorngrove Garden Centre
