Gardening tips & advice for September

[Gardeners world]

After a very wet Winter & Spring,Summer turned out to be very good, & I hope you all found time to make full use of your gardens. Lets face it, if the last 4 winters are to go by, you're going to wish you had!! The consequences of the last 3 seasons are an abundance of autumnal fruits & very lush foliage to our shrubs & trees. So, I encourage you to get out & enjoy this abundance picking blackberries, elderberries, a wonderful crop of apples this year & more with the kids. Any resulting pies or berry wines gratefully accepted!!

So to the month ahead;

1. This is a good time to apply systemic weed killers that will keep working throughout the winter. If you have Japanese knott weed, cut them to around 18 inches & pour the strongest root action weed killer you can buy down the inside of the stem. It works most of the time. Let the offcuts dry out & burn them, you are not allowed to dispose of them any other way!

2. Lawns. Time to give them a straight cut, lower the blades one notch & then cross cut at 45degs. This will strengthen the roots & then apply an autumn lawn feed to look after the lawn for winter. Apply this after rain or watering. As always, do not over feed or you'll be needing a new lawn! Talking of which, if you are thinking of putting in a new lawn, this is a really good time of year to do so. The lawn won't be used as much & gives it a good time to establish itself before next spring.

3. For all my customers & those of you who planted new shrubs, trees & plants, despite the recent rain, they will still need a good soaking, preferably with a sprinkler & for around an hour or so in the evening to avoid evaporation. While you're at it, make sure all your hanging baskets & pots get a feed & watering too, still plenty of colour to be had after a late start.

4. New spring & summer bulbs are in the garden centres & shops now, so plant away, choose a colour pallet that will match what you have with an array of colours you're going to enjoy. This is also a good time while the soil is still warm to plant up new shrubs,trees & fruits to establish them selves over winter. Give them & the hole they are going into a good soaking.

5. Before this, as we live on good old south east London clay, it's a good time to dig it over & add a combination of organic material & sand, this & the winter frost will help it break up & make it more manageable.

6. Good time of year to start a compost heap or bin. Put all your soft autumn cuttings in, but not any diseased plants or leaves. You must burn these.

7. Pruning. Prune your hedges, privet, hawthorn, beech, yew, Leylandii & lonicera ( honeysuckle) before the end of September. Add to this wisteria which needs specialist pruning if you are to get a decent show of flowers next year.

Continue to deadhead your flowering plants, collecting any seeds & putting them in an envelope in a dry place. Give your lavender a good haircut when it's finished flowering to avoid it getting leggy & falling over. Cut back your herbs & use the cuttings over winter in the kitchen.

8. Nearly finished! Leave out bird food & fresh water for our feathered friends to build up their energy for winter.

9. Lastly. I have noticed many self seeded trees in many of my customers gardens. It's mostly the Sycamores & Mountain Ash I'm refering to ( the ones with the helicopter seeds) these seeds get everywhere & start off very small of course. Most people just cut them off above the root. This does not kill them, the root just gets bigger & if left these trees grow to around 90 feet!! In most of East Dulwich gardens this is hugely disproportionate to the size of the garden, takes a huge amount of water from the soil, takes away light, shades & kills off the lawn, spreads more seeds & if that's not enough, the root system is enormous! My advice would be to get a tree surgeon in over winter when the leaves have gone. The other reason for getting rid of them early is that when fully mature they will cost around ?900 to ?1500 to get rid of. Check this with the recommended tree surgeons on the forum.

That's it, except to say as always, if you don't have the time or energy, please use the wonderful gardeners available on the forum, enjoy the abundance of this time of year, send me any questions you may have, preferably about gardening, but other subjects are available.

We are just finishing a design & build project, then we are free for any work you may have in mind.

Happy gardening

Nigel 07947119161

[Gardeners world]

I should have looked at the weather forecast before putting in the bit about watering your trees & shrubs this weekend!! I think probably best to leave it to nature this weekend.

Remember to put away your electronic watering systems at the first sign of frost, or they will freeze up & not work again.

Keep dry

[Gardeners world]

To Deborah, many thanks for your call re new patio & lawn. Can you call me back, as didnt realise your number was withheld. Many thanks

Nigel

[Gardeners world]

Please be aware! On two occasions now we have had supposed scrap men caught unloading equipment from our van claiming it was at the side of the road & left for scrap!!! It only takes a few seconds & there seem to be quite a few of them these days. Please keep a look out for your tools & put a good lock on your sheds.