The Gardener's Journal is a free monthly gardening guide delivered direct to your inbox.

Each month, receive tips on the top jobs needed in your garden as well as a wealth of information on a range of gardening topics. From sowing seeds to picking fruit, each month get access to information on the care and maintenance of your flowerbeds, vegetable plot and lawn. As with your own gardening diary, the journal is split into separate sections, each covering a different area of garden care.

Thursday 6 September 2018

This Month In Your Garden – September

"Happily we bask in this warm September sun, which illuminates all creatures..."
– Henry David Thoreau


So often we begin the Gardener’s Journal with a summary of what the weather is up to. A topic relevant to all us gardeners of course, made even more so with this year’s long drought. Now even just a little rain has made a difference and the grass has greened and jobs we’ve held back on need some catching up.

The Lawn Care Guide – September

‘An Englishman’s home is his castle...’ – Sir Edward Coke/The Institutes of the Laws of England 1628



Now what does that have to do with lawns? Well, the English lawn began inside castle walls, where knights and ladies walked and played and then in about 1610, the Jacobean age, the close cut British lawn evolved. And the British lawn became the envy of gardeners everywhere.

But that was on the grand scale and it was not until the Industrial Revolution, when gardening changed with the building of small Victorian villa gardens, there came a breakthrough.

Lawn Care: Questions and Answers

Q. I have prepared an area for seeding a new lawn, should I apply a feed before seeding?

The Vegetable Plot – September

The big freeze


We easily forget we can freeze our home-grown vegetables and rightfully claim we have frozen them even faster than the bought packaged variety.

Out of the garden come the beans, Brussels sprouts, peas, petit pois, broccoli, sweet corn – washed and into freezer bags in batches for when you need them.

The Big Glut Recipe – September

Butternut Ricotta tart with fiery rocket salad


Ready rolled puff pastry, cream cheese and sage, squash and chilli for a warm September. A BBC Good Food recipe.

  • 1 butternut squash (about 600g), peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 320g sheet ready-rolled puff pastry
  • 250g tub ricotta
  • a few sage leaves, finely chopped
  • good grating of nutmeg
  • zest and juice ½ lemon