Monthly garden maintenance
September
Flowers
September is a good time of year to plant new perennials and hardy annuals.
Your hanging baskets also need some maintenance. Deadheading, watering and feeding can keep them going until mid-autumn.
Continue delphiniums, roses and penstemons deadheading.
Cutt back perennials that are fading and dying down.
Divide clumps of alpines and herbaceous perennials such as crocosmias to improve flowering next year.
Take cuttings of tender perennials such as Pelargonium and Osteospermum.
Bring inside any tender perennials such as fuchsias, gazanias, lantanas and abutilons, before frosts.
For your garden pests and disease, watch inspect chrysanthemums for signs of white rust.
Distortion on Phlox could indicate the presence of phlox eelworm. Discoloured leaves on herbaceous plants, such as Chrysanthemum, Anemone and Penstemon could be leaf and bud eelworm.
Powdery mildew can also be a problem in a dry and warm September.
Contact our landscaping team if you have a project in mind
Trees and shrubs
You can now plant and move shrubs and trees without having to worry about their survival and establishment.
Prune late-summer flowering shrubs such as Philadelphus and give evergreen hedges a final trim.
Climbing roses can be pruned after flowering. Any dead, diseased or spindly growth shoots should be cut out and new young shoots tied into the supports, from the base.
Take semi-ripe cuttings of evergreen shrubs such as Cistus, Ceanothus and Viburnum and hardwood cuttings of roses, choosing well-ripened, healthy shoots.
For your garden general maintenance soak drought-stressed plants and shrubs, especially newly planted ones.
Clear dead leaves once they start to fall, as rotting leaves can be a source of garden disease. Do not compost them or leave them lying, as this could spread the disease.
Lawn
Mow less frequently during autumn and raise the height of cut.
Apply an autumn lawn feed which is high in potassium if You want to harden lawn up for winter.
Loam and sand top dressings are usually applied at a rate of 2kg per sqm.
September is an ideal time of year to create new lawns just from turf or seed and it’s your last chance to use a lawn weedkiller to control perennial weeds such as daisies and buttercups.
Any brown patches caused by drought will quickly green up by themselves.
Always take a special care of your lawn in order to avoid problems such as fungi, moss and weeds.
Other garden works
Ponds
Cover the surface of ponds with the net, because accumulated debris in the pond can encourage the growth of algae and weeds.
Top up water levels and continue to remove blanket and duckweed.
Remove dead leaves from waterlilies as the foliage dies back. Divide them with other pond plants. Waterlilies now can have fungal problems such as crown rot and leaf spot so remove any affected leaves from your pond.
Overgrown marginal plants need to be cut back because only 50 percent of the water’s surface should be taken up with planting.
Landscaping
Enjoy painting your fences, sheds and other wooden features with a preservative in dry weather. Fix leaky shed roofs before the autumn rain comes.
Clean up patios and hard surfaces to get rid of moss and algae.
Make and repair compost bins – get them ready for the autumn!
