September Gardening Advice from Dobbies Garden Centre

A key time for harvesting and preparing for next year, milder September temperatures can be great for gardeners and Dobbies has some top tips for getting the most out of your garden during this time.

Tidying

• Now is the month to tidy up the garden, clearing away summer bedding and starting to plant spring bulbs and winter bedding.
• Consider which annuals worked and which did not, and decide what you would like to grow instead.
• Weed borders and remove faded flowers from perennials like Rudbeckia and annual plants like Busy Lizzie, this will keep them flowering longer.
• Roses also need deadheading as their blooms fade - just cut off their flowers above the highest leaf on the stem.

Planting

• Many gardens can look tired after bright and beautiful summer displays have faded, but a rich riot of autumnal foliage, shrubs, flowers and berries can add striking displays of colour.
• Why not try Japanese Maples (Acer palmatum), Winged Spindle or Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus).  The green variety of Smoke Bush (Cotinus coggyria) is lovely if you have space or Royal Purple if you are restricted.
• Now is also the time to plant new evergreens and conifers as soils are still warm and moist.  Viburnum tinus and Thya ‘Rheingold’ are particularly attractive and easy to grow.
• To ensure your garden is still colourful in the colder months, why not try planting winter flowering pansies and primulas?

Bulbs

• It is also the time of year again to plant spring flower bulbs like crocuses, daffodils, narcissi and snowdrops in borders and patio pots.
• Indoor bulbs such as prepared hyacinths can also be planted now so that they flower at Christmas time.

Lawns

• After the summer lawns often need a bit of pampering and September is the traditional month to do this.
• Start by removing unwanted weeds.
• Most lawns, depending on the soil type, also benefit from being aerated every year.  Do this by making holes in the soil with a garden fork and then rake in a bit of autumn lawn feed.  This is not as necessary with sandy free draining soils.
• Bad muddy patches should be re-turfed.

Grow Your Own

• It is also not too late to try your hand at homegrown vegetables.
• In early September things like lettuce and salad leaves, Chinese cabbages, endive and winter spinach can still be sown directly outside.
• This is also the right time to sow broad been seeds, plant garlic bulbs and onion sets for spring.
• If temperatures get a little colder, a cloche cover or frame should be used.