September Gardening Guide

The first apples have been harvested from the new allotment this week so Autumn must be on it’s way. Even if you haven’t noticed the buckets starting to appear at the end of driveways with ‘Free Apples’ signs popping out the top, the changing light would have been a sure hint that it’s officially September. The way the sun starts to dip *just a little* and the sunsets becoming that bit more vibrant is what makes me love September all the more.

The pressure of the height of summer is starting to fade along with the scales now tipping over to feelings of appreciation for any extra days of sunshine and warmth we’re given. The potential for an Indian Summer? I’ve officially given up on guessing what weather is going to be bestowed upon us for the rest of the year after the last 6 months of confusion. The resulting slug army we’ve been battling has started to make me wonder if I missed the ‘Plague Of Gastropods’ announcement as they can’t have appeared JUST because of all this rain?... Can they?!

 With the weather cooling off in September and the ground still being warm, it lends the coming weeks to being fantastic for getting trees, shrubs and perennials planted. Give some thought to what’s worked brilliantly in your garden this year and what needs a bit of work. Has your planting thrived or simply survived? Were there some months with ‘gaps’ of interest? Are you looking ahead to a bleak winter with little evergreen structure or little-to-no flowers to look forward to? You’ve still got plenty of time to give it a bit of thought and plan out any changes to make in your garden before implementing them.

I’ve started to make some changes to my own front garden in the last week or so, as it happens. With a new wall on the way and needing to move some plants for the work to be done, I figured it was a good time to consider alterations I can make to improve the space. When I planted up the garden 2 years ago, I used a few new-to-me plants to trial and, having given them a fair shot, there’s one or two I need to sort out.

I’d gone fancy and used Anemone hupehensis var. japonica 'Tiki Sensation’ as, from the descriptions, it should be the most elegantly frilly white flowering spectacle right now. In my space? The phrase ‘damp squib’ comes to mind. With so many factors outside of your control, your garden is literally open to the elements both above and below ground and you’re installing living beings in it, and sometimes things just don’t work out how you expect them to. Don’t get me wrong, that element of surprise can be incredible in a garden space, whilst other times you just need to go back to the drawing board and try something else. In this case, I’m changing it up by going with my old favourite and planting Anemone × hybrida 'Honorine Jobert' in place.

For me, this is exactly what my trials are for. I try out new plants so I know how they grow, what conditions they thrive in and learn whether or not they are simply Sensitive Susans (sorry to any Susans reading this). I’ll be moving ‘Tiki Sensation’ to a spot in the back garden to see if I can work out what conditions it prefers.

You may not have any plants to move over the next few weeks, so here are some other tasks you can be getting up to in your garden to keep yourself out of mischief…

Divide early summer flowering perennials

Some of your perennials will have started to go over by now so it’s a good time to get in your border and get yourself some new plants. If your plants have been in situ for a while, they can get a bit bulky and outgrow the space so splitting them into two or three smaller plants is a good idea. You can then pop one back and spread the others elsewhere in your garden. Make sure to water them in well and they should be good to go.

Remove tree seedlings

Over the summer there will have been some little seedlings pop up that have been slowly growing up and up and up and should be big enough for you to spot now. Sycamore and Ash are particularly good at germinating en masse and if you get on it and get them out now, ensuring to get their roots, you should be able to do so without disturbing any of your other plants.

Deadhead and trim lavender

If the bees have stopped visiting your lavender, get trimming. Neaten the plants up, don’t be too shy or precious with them, just try to do so without cutting into the woody stems.

Choose and plant daffodils

Get ordering your daffodil, crocus and other spring flowering bulbs before they sell out. If you’re particular with what you like, the sooner you do so the better as often you can have your heart set on something and then find they’re not available. You can get them planted when they arrive except for tulips. Hold off on planting tulip bulbs until around November in the hopes of not falling victim to the dreaded ‘tulip fire’.

Raise pumpkins

If you’ve been successful in your pumpkin growing this year (it’s a sore subject in my household due to the aforementioned slug army), you may want to look at raising them up off the wet ground. Sometimes when pumpkins are on wet soil they can begin to rot so it’s a good idea to pop an old tile or piece of wood or something of the like that you’ve got hanging around.

Can’t be bothered with compost science? Use fallen leaves instead

Composting is quite the artform to get right. There’s different ways to create leaf mould, too, but I always think that sweeping fallen leaves onto your borders, around the plants, does an alright job considering the effort it takes. The critters in and on your soil will appreciate it and you’re putting all the goodness that’s grown in your garden this year back into your garden for next year.

And to show that I practice what I preach each month, here is the evidence that I took some time to sit in my garden this month. This has been my view whilst I’ve written this gardening guide.

Wini