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.

Laying a new lawn, taking cuttings of tender perennials, covering leafy vegetables with bird-proof netting, collecting and sowing seed from hardy annuals and perennials, digging up remaining potatoes, planting out spring flowering biennials you have sown, such as violas and wallflowers...if you’re a list person you will have already made yours and be ticking off the jobs as you go.

Colder mornings already indicate the possibility of early frosts so bringing tender perennials such as fuschia indoors is wise before the frost gets to them. As soon as it does turn more autumnal it’s a good time to move and plant trees and shrubs, giving them the winter to settle in, ready to burst forth into next spring. Remember to keep soaking drought-stressed plants and shrubs – preferably with collected rainwater or grey water and don’t forget containers, potted plants and hanging baskets. The latter will benefit from some deadheading, cutting back and feeding to continue their display through the autumn until it’s time to plant up or replace them with winter baskets.

Pruning, training and supporting are important jobs before the winds and heavy rains descend. Climbing roses, late flowering shrubs and evergreen hedges will all benefit from cutting back and summer colour can be prolonged by continuing to deadhead roses, dahlias and more. Split rose hips open and you can sow the seed into pots of compost and a layer of grit. Grow them in a cold frame or greenhouse and watch the seedlings appear...

• Prune roses and take cuttings, plant for an earlier result than seeds
• Plant evergreen hedges, shrubs, climbers, hardy perennials, pot-grown trees
• Plant spring bulbs but wait to plant tulips
• Water copiously plants and areas affected by drought  
• Take cuttings of pansies and violas already cut back
• Divide Alpines, Achillea, geraniums, sedum and herbaceous perennials such as Crocosmia
• Collect and sow seed from annuals and hardy perennials
• Net ponds to keep out falling leaves
• Clear, shred and compost dead leaves