Into the Garden – September

As summer mellows into autumn, September is a time to reflect on what has done well in your garden this year (make notes of your favourite bedding plants for next year!)

Autumn colour

Autumn bedding is now available, ready to plant once your summer bedding plants start to fade and go over: viola and winter pansy come in a huge range of colours, and flower best in sunnier spots. Mix with evergreen plants such as ivy, herbs, heuchera or small pots of evergreen grasses or shrubs, for interest through autumn and winter.

Rockery plants or alpines are a fantastic addition to any garden, with a vast selection from succulents to sedum, dianthus to campanula. You can always something in flower for an instant colour boost to a sunny, well-drained spot in your containers or borders.

Make more of your established herbaceous perennial plants by lifting them with a spade, dividing the clump and replanting them. Make sure you water newly divided plants well. Why not get together with friends and swap your spare plants?

Get ready for spring

Now’s the time to select and start planting spring-flowering bulbs for a beautiful display next year. From alliums to crocus, daffodils to tulips, there are plenty to choose from – the bulb packets give individual cultivation details about spacing and depth of planting. If weather conditions are still too warm to plant, make sure you store packets of bulbs in a cool, dry place until you wish to plant them.

Low maintenance planting

Hardy evergreen herbs such as sage, rosemary, thyme, and bay are all garden worthy and can be planted anytime to give fragrance and flavour to your home cooked meals.

Hardy heathers are here – great for planting in beds, borders and as ground cover. Bee friendly and low maintenance – we love them! All heathers grow best in an open, sunny position in the garden. Calluna vulgaris ‘Garden Girls’ are called “bud bloomers” because their flower buds stay closed but show colour for several months and are superb for containers and hanging baskets.

Ornamental grasses are looking superb right now: miscanthus, pennisetum, festuca and carex to name but a few. Grasses are mostly suitable for sunny areas in a well-drained soil, or in containers – use a loam-based compost with about 20 percent added multi-purpose compost for best results. Many have attractive seed heads - some varieties are not fully hardy unless grown in a coastal or very mild area (such as Pennisetum) but are so attractive they are worth treating as an annual.

Garden maintenance

Tidy up your patio and paths by removing moss and algae from hard surfaces to help prevent areas become slippery over winter. We would recommend a sturdy weeding tool such as a weed slice or weeding knife to get in between patio slabs or bricks. For tough or hard to reach areas you could try a chemical weed killer. For those stubborn stains, give Patio Black Spot a try!

Continue removing faded flowers on hanging baskets (deadheading) and feeding them weekly with liquid fertiliser such as – tomato food, Miracle-Gro or Phostrogen – to get the longest flowering possible.