Work for September
14th September 2004

I would love to tell you to take the month off, have a rest and enjoy the garden. That isn’t a good idea and for those of you who don’t know or think otherwise there really isn’t a month in the year when you can desert the garden. It hasn’t been a great summer weather wise but at least the garden was never short of water. The temperatures stayed up and if you want to be cheerful, the rain was warm. Plants loved it. There has been exceptional growth on shrubs and trees, the grass has been in constant need of a haircut and the weeds never slowed down.

Now is a good time to apply a liquid feed of a high potash fertilizer to shrubs .It will help to harden up the new growths in preparation for winter frosts. An autumn weed and feed treatment for the lawn will keep it healthy and green through the winter. A final edging of lawns before they become wet and squelchy will leave them tidy until spring. Water camellias to prevent them dropping next year’s flower buds. Continue to spray against black spot on roses. Picking off and burning the worst of the foliage will reduce the spread of the disease. Apply a mulch of bark or compost to the rose bed.

As the herbaceous perennials finish flowering tidy up the dead foliage. If allowed to remain it will look a mess and will harbour slugs and snails. Apply a deep mulch of old, well rotted, farmyard manure to the raspberries. House plants that have been outside for the summer should be brought back inside before the first hint of a frost. Clean the pot and check that there are no pests such as snails or vine beetles hitching a lift indoors.Check tree ties and loosen them where necessary. Tree trunks have made a lot of growth and the straps may be cutting into the bark.

Join the queue in the garden centre for winter and spring flowering bulbs. Keep an eye out for the more unusual species and varieties and give them a try. If you are not going to plant them straight away then store them in a cool, dry cupboard but don’t leave them until they have started to produce leaves in their bags.As the crops are harvested tidy up the vegetable plot removing all the unwanted remains. This is a good way to reduce the risk of pests and diseases overwintering while preventing the garden from looking a mess.

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