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Gardening Ideas September 2009

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September is the best time for planting a wide range of spring flowering bulbs and don't the garden centres know it? Go shopping now and you'll be dazzled with packets showing full colour pictures of all the glories that lie in wait if you'll only part with £2 or £3 and plant the dry, dormant brownish bulbs or corms inside. This is well worth doing and apart from tulips, which are best planted in November, all the rest benefit from going in during early autumn, as they have time to put down a good root system before winter sets in. You could be enjoying tubs of scented hyacinths, bowls of dwarf iris, lawns dotted with jewel-like crocuses, clumps of dainty daffodils or pools of blue chionodoxas under your shrubs. Just remember to put them in tip uppermost and flattish basal plate down. As a general rule cover bulbs with twice their depth of soil and they'll do well, most repaying your investment by returning in ever larger clumps year after year.

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Garden clippings for September

......in the kitchen garden

• make outdoor sowings of kohl rabi. These strange-looking veg make a swollen stem above ground that tastes a bit like turnip. They'll grow fast in warm, moist soil and yield a crop of small stems before winter.
• plant spring cabbage you've raised from seed or bought as young plants. I get the best results from setting them 30cm/12in each way, so each has room to heart up. As with all brassicas (cabbage family), plant firmly and water in.
• control slugs that breed during mild, damp autumns and wreak havoc on young hardy salad plants. Sprinkle Growing Success Advanced Slug Killer pellets at 15cm/6in intervals - they kill only slugs and snails.

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......in the flower garden

• if you have a patch of spare, empty soil, why not sow seed of hardy annuals for next summer? Antirrhinum, pot marigold and poached egg plant are particularly good. Rake first, sprinkle seed thinly then rake lightly again.
• pune rambling roses by cutting out the old stems that have just flowered. Tie the new stems in to their support as these are the ones which will burst into bloom for you next summer.
• plant out biennials (plants sown one year to flower the next) like foxgloves and honesty. Fork in soil conditioner, set the plants out in groups about 35cm/14in apart and firm them in.

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.....and in general

• bring in any houseplants like cymbidium orchids and azaleas that have been out all summer. These need a cool, bright position in the house to flower well during winter.
• wait until spring before adding new shrubs and herbaceous plants to windy areas of gardens in exposed areas. They need time to put down roots before their first winter.
• pick apples when they come away from the tree when lifted and twisted gently. Midseason fruit stores well for a few weeks on racks in a cool, airy place.

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Q and A

Q: Emma Kirkley has asked how she can breathe life into her dry, poor soil so she can grow plenty of flowers.

A: Fork your soil over, remove any weeds and then spread an 8cm/3in mulch of soil conditioner over the surface now. Opt for well rotted compost, manure, composted bark or anything you can lay your hands on. This will gradually be brought down into the soil during winter and give you a better start next spring.

Q: Can I move my camellia planted three years ago? It is growing too large for its place.

A: Autumn is a good time for moving young evergreen shrubs (and don't worry - even professional gardeners end up doing this). Dig around the roots a good 30cm/12in away from the stem and then cut under to lift the plant. Put it straight in the new planting hole and make sure it is firmed in to exactly the same level as before. Water in well.

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