This is a very busy month for gardeners as autumn is almost upon us. A huge selection of spring-flowering bulbs can be found in the garden centre and it is a good time to purchase them before some of the scarcer varieties are sold out. Hyacinths for growing in bowls to flower around Christmas time will need to be planted as early as possible. There is no hurry to plant daffodils and narcissi; and tulips are best planted well into October. Alliums, snowdrops, winter aconites, grape hyacinths, irises, scillas and chionodoxa can be planted up to the end of the year. As soon as the tomatoes and peppers have been harvested and the greenhouse can be emptied completely, it is time to clean the glass and fumigate using a sulphur candle. The tender perennials in the garden can be lifted and taken into the glasshouse for over-wintering away from the frost. For extra frost protection the greenhouse can be lined with bubble plastic whilst still empty. Some of the hardy annuals can be sown this month and its time to start to plant winter hanging baskets and containers using winter pansies and the small half-hardy cyclamen together with trailing plants such as ivies. Once the summer bedding has died down, pansies and cyclamen can be planted. Wallflowers, forget-me-nots, Canterbury bells and aubretia will be ready for planting out this month and polyanthus and primroses will be ready at the end of the month.
Now is the time to scarify and aerate the lawn and to apply a lawn dressing. Kill off any weeds in the lawn using a selective weedkiller such as Verdone and apply an autumn lawn fertilizer (one that is low in nitrogen). New areas of lawn can be either seeded or turfed. Now is the time to lift root vegetables and to plant early onion sets and garlic, as well as strawberries. Sow winter lettuce and plant out cabbages too. This is the month when greasebands should be put round the trunks of fruit trees. If not already done, old raspberry fruiting canes should be cut down and new canes should be tied in. Perennials can be divided and planted out now, but make sure that plants are labelled when they are cut down. Chipperfield Horticultural Society has its Autumn Flower Show on 19 September. Sarratt and Bovingdon both have their shows on 12 September. The Malvern Autumn Show is on 26/27 September and the Royal Horticultural Society’s Wisley Flower Show is from 11-13 September. David Empson is giving his horticultural talk in Chipperfield on Thursday 3 September in the Parish Room (tickets from Stanley’s Stores).
Terry Simmonds