Your Garden In September
By Colin Dale, Notcutts Garden Centres
Although nature may be preparing to take a breather with the onset of autumn, this is a busy time for gardeners. Your local garden centre will have a wide selection of spring flowering bulbs for sale, which can be planted now. Crocus and Colchicums should be planted as soon as possible, whereas Tulips and Daffodils can be put in until the middle of November to flower next spring. Remember to plant at three times the depth of the bulb and mark them well to avoid disturbance early next spring.
Evergreen hedges and topiary, which form the back bone of the winter garden, can be lightly pruned now to tidy them up before winter. Complete the job with a feed of general fertiliser and water in if the weather is dry. This is a good time to move existing evergreen shrubs in your garden. Make sure that they do not go short of water until they are established and protect from cold winter winds by erecting a windbreak around them. Visit your local garden centre to choose from a range of these plants that are so valuable for winter and early spring interest.
Your lawn may have taken a lot of wear through the summer and an autumn lawn food can be applied this month. This is also an ideal time to seed new grass areas or lay turf. Prepare the ground thoroughly by raking off stones and treading to make a firm, level base. Raise the height of the mower blades and lessen the cutting frequency for established lawns.
The vegetable garden will still be full of delicious produce which should be harvested regularly to encourage longer cropping. Courgettes, beetroot, runner beans, carrots and main crop potatoes should be harvested for immediate use and onions lifted during dry weather to store for use during the winter. Hoe winter crops during suitable weather to keep weeds down and dig over vacant ground as crops are cleared to keep the area tidy. Raspberries should be pruned now, removing the fruited canes and tying in the new growths that will fruit next year. Established currant bushes can be pruned by removing a quarter of the old wood that has borne fruit this summer. Feed your fruit bushes and trees with a high potash feed, to encourage more flowers next year.
Flower and shrub borders can be tidied by cutting back perennials as they finish flowering to build up the crowns for next year. Summer flowering shrubs such as Philadelphus can be shaped by removing some of the long growths that the plants have put on through late summer. Continue to apply mulch to borders to improve the soil and keep the weeds down. Why not visit your local garden centre and choose from the range of late flowering perennials such as richly coloured Helenium, Asters and Rudbeckia? These will extend the interest in your garden and many make good cut flowers for the house.
Top Ten Tips for September
1. Visit your local garden centre to choose from the wide range of spring flowering bulbs in stock now. Crocus and Colchicums should be planted as soon as possible. Tulips and Narcissus can be planted until the middle of November.
2. It is still not too late to lightly prune evergreen hedges to keep them in shape. Complete the job with a feed of general fertiliser, which should be watered in. Mulch the base of the hedge with garden compost or well rotted manure to improve the soil.
3. Cut back perennial plants as they finish flowering, to build up the crowns for next year. Make sure that late flowering perennials such as Heleniums and Rudbeckias are staked sufficiently to prevent the flowers being damaged by rain and wind.
4. Now that the hottest days are past, remove shading from the green house to allow as much light in as possible through the winter.
5. Continue to feed containers and baskets of summer bedding plants, which will flower through until the first frosts. Round up any empty containers and plant with winter flowering Pansies and spring bedding plants to give colour during the early months of next year.
6. Apply an autumn lawn food to your grass areas. This will build up the root system through the winter for a stronger lawn next year. Raise the height of the mower blades and lessen the cutting frequency.
7. Continue to harvest crops such as runner beans, courgettes and carrots from the vegetable garden. Clear spent crops to the compost heap and dig over any vacant ground. Hoe between winter crops on suitable days to keep the weeds in check.
8. Cut Raspberry canes that have finish fruiting to the ground and tie in new stems which will fruit next year. Feed with a high potash feed to encourage flowers next spring and summer. Prune Blackcurrants by removing a quarter of the old wood that has fruited this year.
9. Continue to dead head hybrid Roses to encourage more flowers, but varieties grown for their decorative hips should be left so that these can be enjoyed through autumn.
10. Visit your local garden centre to choose from the wide range of shrubs and trees which will provide autumn fruit or leaf colour, to extend the season of interest in your own garden.