Gardening Hints for September Hello one and all, Can you believe we are now reading the September edition of the NW Village Life Magazine? This year has certainly flown by. September is a busy month in the flower garden and the veggie garden alike. Herbaceous perennials will now be starting to die back, leave the leaves on until they have died right back, as the leaves start to die the goodness within them will go back into the root system, providing lots of energy and goodness and as such you will end up with a stronger healthier plant next year. Hopefully, your hanging baskets are all doing well, continue to dead head frequently and feed them 2 or 3 times a week with miracle-gro or tomato feed. With hanging baskets there are often many plants competing in a very small place with little room for roots to grow, as such the goodness in the compost is used up vey quickly, so giving extra feed now will help your plants to survive for much longer, hopefully right up until the frosts arrive later in the year. Spring flowering bulbs will be into us at the end of August, ready to be planted out from then. Keep camellias and rhododendrons well-watered, they will now be forming their flower buds for next year, should they dry out now the buds will still form but they will drop off before the flowers get to open. Now is a good time to divide herbaceous perennials, you can also collect seeds from them & from many annuals. Dividing perennials will give you not only more plants for next year but will also provide you with bigger, healthier and stronger plants. Continue to dead head roses to encourage further flowering. In the veg garden sweetcorn should soon be ready if not already, to test if its ready to harvest simply squeeze a kernel, if it produces a milky coloured sap then its ready to pick. Dig up your main crop potatoes to prevent slug damage. Leave them in the sun to dry just for a couple of hours, once dry they can be stored in hessian sacks and if kept in a cool dark place will keep well over winter. Marrows can also be left on the plant for an extra week or two totoughen up their skins, they can then also be stored over winter. Veggies such as carrots or parsnips once harvested and dry can be stored in a bucket of sand over winter. There are many veggies which can be grown at this time of year, these include broccoli, sprouts, carrots, peas, leeks, kale, lettuce, broad beans &peas. Pot up strawberry runners, to give you fresh plants for next year, strawberry plants are generally good for 3 years before they start to produce less fruit, so by using the runners you will have a continuous supply of plants and fruit. Give your lawns a final application of feed weed & moss killer. Dig over flower beds, remove weeds, apply some well rotten manure, the worms will then work this into the soil over the winter to give you a nice base to work with next spring. If there is anything you aren’t sure about then pop into the nursery where Lisa or myself will endeavour to advise you. Don’t forget we also have a Facebookpage (@ArtNGC) which Lisa keeps updated with info & current stock photos, and as many of you have mentioned she is often up through the night posting things and answering questions via messenger, she has also started an Instagram page (artnurserynw) which is all above my head! So on that note I will leave it there. Cheers Nigel (Art Nursery Garden Centre)
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Tel: 07814 863955
Email: june@northwealdvillagelife.co.uk
www.northwealdvillagelife.co.uk
