Hello September! Here at Field Compost, this month is pretty busy, with the last day of the BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair today, and the Gransden show on the 28th! We are also helping with the set up and running of our local Thurlow Fayre on the 8th!
We hope you have a great month! The temperatures will soon get colder as Autumn kicks in; don’t forget you can continue to grow salad crops indoors throughout the winter. You don’t need a heated green house, just a south facing windowsill or conservatory will do nicely (as long as you can afford to keep the heating on that is).
General Garden Maintenance:
- Put netting across ponds to stop autumn leaves falling and rotting, and to keep on top of autumn pond maintenance.
- Check that tree ties and plant supports are firmly in place, ahead of autumn gales.
- Clean up patios and hard surfaces to get rid of moss and algae. Doing this now will prevent them from becoming slippery during the winter.
Greenhouse:
- Take down greenhouse shade netting or wash off shading paint by the end of month, as light levels start to fall.
- Maintain good plant hygiene by picking off faded blooms and dead leaves before fungal diseases can take hold.
Houseplants:
- Water houseplants less frequently and move them off particularly cold windowsills at night.
- Repot any houseplants that have becomes top heavy or pot bound into larger containers, using Field No.23 Professional Peat Free Potting Blend compost.
Lawns:
Maintenance of established lawns:
- Rake thatch from lawns, scarify well-trodden areas by spiking with a garden fork, and re-seed bare patches with our Field No.4 Organic Fine Grade Lawn Dressing.
- Mow less frequently and raise cutting height as growth rate starts to slow in autumn. This will help the grass withstand the last of the warm and dry weather and make it more resilient to being walked on during wet weather.
- Apply Field No.4 Organic Fine Grade Lawn Dressing to give your lawn an autumn feed, if your grass needs a boost. Field No.4 contains a naturally balanced quantity of both major and micronutrients. This includes plenty of potash and phosphate that grass species need to strengthen roots and build frost resistance going into the winter.
New lawns:
- Prepare the ground for a new lawn by forking over, weeding, levelling and firming lightly. Doing this several weeks in advance gives the soil time to settle, so you have an even surface for sowing and laying turf.
- Lay turf onto prepared soil and keep it well-watered so it roots in well. Our Field No.26 Turfing Soil is ideal where levels need to be raised up ahead of turfing.
- Sow a wildflower meadow or plant wildflower plugs into existing lawns. Use Field No.30 Wildflower Soil for new meadows, or invert areas of existing turf where plugs are planted, to reduce competition whilst plants establish.
Flowers:
Jobs:
- Collect ripe seeds from your favourite flowers and store in labelled envelopes, ready to sow in spring. This is a great opportunity to increase the number of plants in your garden for free.
- Lift, divide and replant congested clumps of herbaceous perennials once they have finished flowering. Dividing regularly will reinvigorate established clumps and ensure that they continue to perform year after year. It also offers an opportunity to multiply your plants. Mix Field No.1 Organic Soil Improver into the planting pit to encourage root growth.
To Plant:
Best products: unless stated otherwise, use Field No.23 Professional Potting Blend compost to form a seed bed when sowing direct, or when sowing in pots and containers.
- Hardy annuals. Sowing now will provide early flowers; they will bloom a couple of weeks earlier than those from a spring sowing.
- Love-in-a-mist. Sow in modules for planting out later or direct where it is to flower (either in the soil or in pots).
- Cornflowers.
- Queen Anne’s Lace (Ammi majus). This is best sown in autumn, resulting in bigger and better flowers in early spring. Sow direct where it is to flower, or in modules for planting out later.
- Sweet peas. Sow in a cold frame or greenhouse for early summer blooms next year.
- English Marigold. These are easy to grow, with autumns sowings that should flower from May. Sow them direct in shallow drills or on the surface of moist peat-free compost (Like No.23) in pots.
- Opium poppy, Field poppy, California poppy and ladybird poppy can be sown in autumn for an early summer display. Sow direct on patches of bare soil or in modular seed trays to plant out in spring.
- Spring bedding. For instance, wallflowers, pansies and forget-me-nots in pots and borders.
- Spring bulbs, e.g., crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths, bluebells and snake’s head fritillaries in pots and borders. Mix Field No.1 Organic Soil Improver in with the bulbs when planting.
Fruit & veg:
Jobs:
- Cut away any leaves covering the fruits of pumpkins, squash and marrows to help the skins ripen in the sun.
- Harvest crops, like runner beans, potatoes, onions, courgettes, tomatoes, and apples. Pick autumn-fruiting raspberries; harvest them regularly to get fruits at the peak of ripeness, when they are richly-coloured, plump and easy to pull off.
- Watch out for wasps – they feast on the juices of split fruits, so pick fruits as soon as they are ripe and pick up any fallen ones. Also try to keep birds off crops like apples and pears; birds peck on these fruits, thus attracting wasps afterwards.
To plant:
Use Field No.23 Professional Potting Blend compost for sowing fruit and veg.
- Hardy greens and salad leaves, e.g., kale, land cress, pak choi, mizuna, lamb’s lettuce and mustard. Perfect for winter pickings. Sow in a sheltered spot outdoors or grow in pots.
- Plant saffron crocus bulbs (crocus sativus), so you can harvest your own saffron this autumn.
- Spinach. Sow now for pickings next spring. Sow direct in shallow drills in well-prepared soil or in pots. Then cover with fleece or a low cloche from October onwards.
- Broad beans. Sowing these in autumn means plants can establish over winter and crop earlier next spring. Don’t forget to cover plants with fleece during hard frosts and snow.
- Peas. Hardy varieties can be sown this month to overwinter and produce an early crop.
- Radish. These are fast growing so will mature in a couple of weeks.
Trees & shrubs:
Jobs:
- Complete your summer pruning of both free-standing and trained apple trees, to encourage good fruiting in future years.
- Collect up and bin apples, plums and pears infected with brown rot, to reduce the spread of fungal disease.
To plant:
- If the weather is already autumnal, you can plant and move shrubs and trees without having to worry about their survival and establishment. Shrubs planted now will have all winter to settle in, so will get off to a flying start next spring.
