Gardening jobs for September for newbies and us oldies!

annie123 · 27 August 2008 at 9:25PM

Still plenty of daylight and lots to do in September.

Time to look at your shed roof, does it need repairs? Will it stand up to winter? Also oil your tools. I spray WD40 onto mine keeps them rust free. Install a water butt, remove shading from greenhouses. Make or repair compost bins so that they are ready for the autumn, when fallen leaves will quickly fill them. Clean the greenhouse by the end of the month before bringing in tender plants. Garden tools are often sold off cheaper now have you lacked/broken anything? shop around now. Keep an eye out for free bulbs/seeds in magazines.

Flower garden

Spring bulbs are in the shops and its time to plant them in the ground or tubs daffs by end of month leave tulips till November.
Wall flowers can also be planted
Dead head roses, lavender, and anything else that needs it! Makes them last longer
Many tender plants you want to save for next year can also be potted this month, so they are established and ready to bring in into a frost free place when the weather turns colder.
Support any tall plants in case of autumn winds eg gladdies, asters etc
Rose cuttings, taken from the BBC website because I have never done this: Take stem cuttings of roses in early September by pushing cut stems straight into the soil in a nursery area of the garden, where they can be left to root and develop for about a year. Most types of rose can be propagated from cuttings, especially the rambling types. Just take a length of stem, removing the soft tip above a leaf joint, and cut below a joint at the base, removing all but the top three leaves. Then push the 30cm (12in) cutting into the soil to about half its length.
Collect and sow seeds from favorite plants. Good time to sow sweet peas in cold frame or greenhouse
If you sowed any biennials i.e. foxgloves, wallflowers, earlier in the summer, they will now need planting out.
Good time to plant perennials and divide any over crowded clumps
Finish taking cuttings of fuchsia and other tender plants, which can be over wintered on a windowsill.
Do baskets and tubs need re doing? Plant winter pansy, ivy etc
If it is an early autumn you can move small trees and shrubs, if it is hot :rolleyes: don’t, wait till next month
Lawns can be sown or re turfed now. Give yours an overhaul, scarify…rake over to get ride of thatch and aerate. dig in fork to make holes, your lawn might look worse at first but will look better later for it.
Now is a good time to sow a meadow

Kitchen garden

Sow lettuce and salad leaves, Chinese cabbage endive winter spinach turnips for their green tops final sowing of spring cabbage A cloche will speed up germination in colder areas.
Plant over wintering onion sets at the end of the month
Discovery apples are looking at me from my tree, will need picking over the next few weeks
Sweet corn is ready to pick when the silks have turned brown and the juice runs milky from stickying your nail into it.
Pick herbs for drying or freezing
Lift onions on a dry day and leave to dry out in the sun if poss, and then hang in old tights in the shed or somewhere cool and dark
Lift main crop carrots
Earth up celery, see august for tips
Last chance to get strawberry beds going before the winter
Plant peach trees whilst the soil is still warm
Unless growing some spuds for xmas, get spud out of the ground by the end of the month before slugs get them or the wet weather rots them
Unless we have an Indian summer pick outdoor toms that are even still green by the end of the month. Whole trusses can be ripened on window sills and green ones make great chutney:D
Pumpkins and marrows maybe ready to pick from mid month
"Asparagus brown cut it down". Give plants a mulch after
Sow green manure in any empty spots to prevent weeds taking over and to improve soil

ponds

Continue to remove duckweed etc Top up water levels when necessary, particularly during warmer weather.
Cover the surface of ponds with netting if needed to stop fallen leaves from entering Remove dead leaves from water plants as the foliage dies back.
Now is a good time to divide/cut back pond plants, both floating and marginal, in order to increase their stocks or to control over-vigorous growth.

Wildlife gardening
Jobs for the month

Clean out birdbaths and top up
Replenish bird feeders. The breeding season is just finishing, so avoid large chunks and peanuts.
Leave some seed heads standing, rather than cutting them back, to provide food and shelter for wildlife. Butterflies are still plentiful
Give meadows a final cut before the winter,
Leave piles of logs or twigs, lots of nooks and crannies for wildlife to hide in
Bat walks still popular
Make an area suitable for hedgehogs to sleep
Keep some rose hips for wildlife
make a bee hotel from straws, bamboo canes etc

Many summer migrant visiting birds begin their journey back home this month. Swifts and swallows, Willow-warblers, black caps, house martins and pied flycatchers leave this month,
Bug life should be encouraged. Without insects and other invertebrates, there would be no birds and mammals, and many flowers would fail to pollinate, set seed or produce fruit.
Damselflies and dragonflies are still evident near ponds and water features, so are Hover flies and ladybirds. Pond skaters and water boatmen are still seen skating on the pond surface in search of food.

Just a few ideas there, if I have left out anything obvious out please add it, and ...
is anyone from Scotland? please share your ideas as its a bit colder up there compared to down south where I am!

setmefree2 · 27 August 2008 at 10:49PM

Thanks:D Very interesting.

nodwah · 27 August 2008 at 10:57PM

Could I add that when planting bulbs such as alliums, crocus and tulips (later) cover them with chicken wire or something to stop the piggin squrls eating them:mad:

I think you can still get away with sowing chard for greens with some protection.

Also remembered when pulling up my spuds today - try to get all the wee tiny ones out of the soil as they will grow again next year through whatever other crop you're growing there - didn't happen to me of course:o

Money_saving_Diva_2 · 28 August 2008 at 1:00AM

Thank you so much Annie - I am learning a lot from your monthly posts!!

Hugs

Diva.x

annie123 · 28 August 2008 at 10:17AM

nodwah wrote: »

Could I add that when planting bulbs such as alliums, crocus and tulips (later) cover them with chicken wire or something to stop the piggin squrls eating them:mad:

Good point.
In beds I plant all of mine go in 'chickenwire baskets' squashed down. Works very well the only thing you have to do is put the mud back when the little critters have dug the earth up looking for a tasty snack:rolleyes:
In tubs I put a layer over the top with an inch or so of mud ontop so you cant see it.

miss_corerupted · 28 August 2008 at 10:36AM

thanks for the list of tasks. I think my main task is to just weed the whole area and cover with black plastic this year. Try and kill everything off, i'm weeding constantly and it grows faster than i can kill it.

Start afresh next year

setmefree2 · 28 August 2008 at 10:42AM

Hi:hello:,

I wish I'd known about the chicken wire stuff 5 years ago. I spent 4 days planting bulbs and the pesky squirrels ate the lot:o They thought it was Christmas come early. I think I got about one flower out of it. My spring garden is bare of spring flowers.....:o

SMF2

olly300 · 30 August 2008 at 7:57AM

nodwah wrote: »

Could I add that when planting bulbs such as alliums, crocus and tulips (later) cover them with chicken wire or something to stop the piggin squrls eating them:mad:

Good idea.

I have been given to ways of stopping squirrels digging them up either:
1. cover them with chicken wire which makes it harder for you to plant things on top
2. make a basket of chicken wire around the bulb and plant it.

Both methods work.

Also if the squirrels really get on your nerves they won't dig up areas covered in chilli powder.

ExiledWool · 2 September 2008 at 8:02PM

Luckily, I don't have to worry about squirrels. Not many around these parts.

Is it too early to make raised beds for next year? There's a perfect patch of ground doing nothing next to Little Wool's trampoline I can use.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted · 2 September 2008 at 10:50PM

Oh dear, time to pack up for the winter already. Only just picked the first of our tomatoes yesterday morning, the runners are just beginning to swell and grow and the strawberries are just beginning to ripen. The sweetpeas still haven't flowered. It must be colder than I thought this year, up on this due east facing balcony, on this breezy hill, everything's stunted!

RAS · 3 September 2008 at 12:17PM

For the kitchen garden

Save a few pods of any french beans and peas that "went to seed". Will save you a fortune next year.

And with those tomatoes, save a few seeds as well, unless they are FI hyrids.

Gardening jobs for September for newbies and us oldies!

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