September Gardening Plus What’s Going on in My Garden

The weather has been so lovely over the last few days which has really made it feel like it is spring already. The nice weather is not going to last for long though because they are forecasting rain and cooler weather from tomorrow. Regardless of the weather, it is great to be planning for our September gardening jobs because it means that spring is just around the corner!

Earlier this month we had some quite chilly nights and mornings, it got down to -3 and -4 °C for a few nights in a row and we had to make sure that our frost protection was in place those nights! We haven’t really had any frosts during the second half of August. In the past though, we have had frosts right up till October so we are not counting out more frosts still to come!

It has been unusually dry during August so we have started watering our vegetable patch every few days. Most of the ornamental beds are coping ok for now but we will need to start watering them too if the dry spell continues.

The only upside to the drier weather is that the weeds seem to be slowing down. Weeding has been a big job during August. We had quite a wet start to winter this year so there have been lots of weeds pop up everywhere. We have been trying to get them all pulled out as quickly as we can before they start to produce seeds.

We have managed to get to most of our August gardening jobs done, so now it is time to plan for our September Gardening jobs!

My September Gardening Jobs

Keep up with the weeding
Top up mulch where necessary
Test irrigation systems to check for leaks and blockages
Provide frost protection when needed to susceptible plants
Plant/care for seedlings that can be planted out in the garden once the last frosts have passed
Increase frequency of watering for potted plants as the weather warms
Apply fertiliser to roses
Look out for aphids on new growth of plants such as roses and hydrangea
Pick off or treat cabbage white moth on brassica
Remove dead flowers from bulbs

Even though it is not officially spring yet you can tell that it is not far away when you see the fruit trees in the garden start to blossom. The earliest trees in our garden to flower are the almond trees. They have been flowering now for quite a few days and they look so pretty with a blue sky behind them. We’re not the only ones enjoying the blossom; the bees also love it. The two almond trees are buzzing with bees and other insects at the moment. Our plum and apricot trees have also got lots flower buds but only a couple have opened so far. I can’t wait for them to be in full bloom because I love the pale pink colour of apricot blossom.

Our other ornamental deciduous trees are starting to show signs of spring growth too. It is so great to see small green shoots starting to appear. Even my little bonsai maple is getting cute little green shoots right up the stem. We have been watching the shoots get bigger and bigger each day; I am sure that its lovely little new leaves are not far away!

Another plant in our garden that is coming back to life after a winter rest is the hydrangeas. It is amazing how they almost look like they have died during the coldest parts of winter and then spring back to life as the weather warms up.

My favourite hydrangea, the lace cap one, looked dreadful just a few weeks ago. But now that I have pruned off the old spent flowers from last summer you can see masses of small green shoots appearing along the stems. In another few weeks the plant will be covered in leaves again! Nature is really amazing isn’t it?
We find hydrangea plants fairly easy to look after, especially if they are in the right position. We make sure that ours get plenty of afternoon shade so that they can cope with the really hot days during summer. Just lately we have noticed some aphids on the new shoots of some of our hydrangeas. So we will have to spend some time treating them like we do when we have aphids on our roses.

Thankfully we have got lots of natural aphid predators in our garden. We see lots of hoverflies visiting our flowering plants, so hopefully they will help us to keep the aphids at bay!

One part of the garden that is giving us lots of pleasure at the moment is our vegetable patch. In particular I love going to check on how our potatoes are growing. Over the last week or so, with the warmer weather, they have really shot up.

One of the frosts that we had earlier in the month did burn some of the new leaves off but I put frost cloth over them after that, and that prevented any further damage. The days have been so warm this last week or two and because of that they have been growing really quickly. We will soon need to mound the soil up around the potatoes to prevent the tubers from going green!

Our onions and garlic are also getting nice and big. I can’t wait to be able to harvest some onions; we haven’t had home grown onions for ages!

We are also busy planning our spring/summer garden; we have been working out what we want to plant and where to put it. We love buying and planting seeds and seedlings. We just have to be careful that we have enough room in our veggie garden to plant everything we want to grow!

Well I know that I’m going to be busy in the garden over the coming month. If you need more ideas for what you should be doing in your garden during September try the following links: