Jobs for September

General gardening jobs:

• In the greenhouse: continue to open the door/ windows on any warm days and spray the floor with water to ensure a damp atmosphere to deter whitefly. Continue feeding Tomatoes Peppers, Chillies and Melons with Tomato feed – always follow the instructions on the bottle.

• If colder weather is forecast in the next few weeks consider lifting tender plants e.g. Geraniums/ Osteospermums – plant up and move the pot into a greenhouse/ somewhere cool but well-lit indoors.

• Continue to dead head bedding plants regularly to keep them flowering.

• Continue to keep on top of the weeding in the borders by hoeing/ hand weeding and continue to watch for pest damage and disease.

• Most lawns build up a layer of ‘thatch’. This is dead grass the grass grows through, so you don’t notice it. This is usually a good month to remove it by ‘scarifying’ with a spring tine rake or an electric lawn rake. Do NOT scarify your grass if the ground is wet and don’t be too vigorous raking out dead grass or you’ll rake out most of the grass too! !). After you’ve finished treat with an autumn lawn feed.

• As necessary, water pots/ hanging basket, veg and anything recently planted in the borders when the compost/ soil is dry.

• Give hedges a trim now to ensure they look good during the winter months. Watch out for any birds that have nested late because of the warm summer.

• Take photographs of your borders to see what’s in flower and for a chance to look at what grew well and how to improve it next year.

• Buy autumn flower plants and bulbs for pots and borders. Don’t plant tulips until early November to avoid Tulip blight.

Veg Plot

• Sow Green manure on any bare soil (this can be dug in next year)

• Start harvest Leeks, continue to harvest Tomatoes (also remove leaves to encourage ripening).

• Continue to water Runner/ French beans and pick regularly

• Harvest apples and go Brambling!