Every month we get asked about what jobs need to be done in the garden. So, what we thought we’d start doing is towards the end of each month list what needs to be thought about for the following month.
For now these details will appear in this section of our website but over the autumn and winter months – when we seem to have more time on our hands – we’re planning to add a few additional pages to the website and give this “gardening calendar” a space all of its own.
September – the month when summer moves into autumn and the days are starting to get shorter.
Last night in Frome it seemed almost dark by 8.30! And as for cooler weather and gustier winds – the past few days have certainly demonstrated that – at the top of our tripod stepladder we certainly felt that as we trimmed a hedge or two!
There’s not an awful lot to do in the ornamental part of your garden this month but if you have a fruit or vegetable patch in your garden, or an allotment, then you’ll need to be busy harvesting your crops.
If your ordered spring-flowering bulbs then now is the time to start getting them in and whilst you’re in the flower mood you can collect seeds from the flowers that you enjoyed this year – so you can enjoy them again next!
Most importantly though is to get outside when you can and enjoy the feeling of the warmth of the sun on your face as you go about your gardening jobs!
Here’s our Top Ten jobs for the month:
Divide herbaceous perennials – it’s a job that seems a little brutal but if your perennials have been in for a year or two and have started to outgrow their space then now’s time to divide them and enjoy some free plants!
Keep an eye on your autumn raspberries, make sure the birds don’t get to them and start picking them. Don’t forget to sample them as you do so!
Enjoy a wander around your garden and make sure you collect and either store or sow seed from perennials and hardy annuals – particularly those you enjoyed.
Dig up any remaining potatoes before slug damage spoils them. I need to do that with the International Kidneys that yet again I left in the ground rather than harvest them earlier in the year when they were ready. Note to self – make better notes and more effort next year!
If you have a pond think about netting it now before leaves start to fall and make the water messy.
Keep watering new plants as and when they need it. One of the most common reasons plants die in the first few years is due to them not being watered often enough. We’re keeping an eye on the 5m flowering cherries we planted for a customer recently – suffice to say we make sure they get enough water. Use rainwater or grey water if you can.
Start to reduce how often you water your houseplants.
Clean out your greenhouse and cold frame so that they are ready to store your more delicate plants over the winter. We need to get some replacement panes so that the partially glazed greenhouse can be properly finished off.
Keep the pigeons and other birds off your leafy vegetable by covering them with bird-proof netting – that and finishing off our fruit cage at the allotment are pressing jobs that we need to find the time to complete!
If you ordered some spring flowering bulbs then now is the time to get them in.
We’ll update you with what we get up to throughout the month. If you have any questions or would like us to look at what you need to have done in your garden, then we’d be delighted to hear from you.
You can contact us through our facebook page, at hello@thetrugandlettuce.co.uk or on 07734 365028.