September in the Garden
The first official month of spring usually brings with it a wide variety of weather and climatic conditions. Even in a mild year late frosts and heavy rain can upset all the best intentions of the most prepared gardener. Take care of new plantings making sure they are well watered and protect those that are frost tender.
Ornamental Garden
The Edible Garden
It’s a busy period in the vegetable patch with plenty of vegetable seed to sow. Gardeners in warmer microclimates can sow seeds a few weeks earlier. Colder microclimates which are cooler and wetter slow down growth and results in poorer crops, wait another week or so, and you’ll get faster growth.
Mulch vegetable garden with compost. Empty your compost bins and spread over the ground and/or purchase bulk compost.
Intercropping is a space saving technique for small gardens. Plant small relatively quick growing crops like radish, leafy lettuce etc between widely spaced slower growing crops such as tomatoes and sweetcorn. The small crops are harvested before the larger crops need the space.
Keep the vegetable garden weed free
Spinach - first of succession sowings
Silver beet - early sowing
Spring onions - good for intercropping
Lettuce - first of succession sowings
Dwarf beans - about 100 mm apart in a double row
Scarlet runner bean - against a fence or climbing structure
Parsnips - use only fresh seed otherwise poor results
Carrots - early varieties followed by a main crop
Radish - succession planting every 2-3 weeks
Beetroot - both globe and cylindrical (best for bottling)
Leeks - in a seedbed for later transplanting
Cabbages - small sowings in a seedbed on monthly basis
Cauliflower - small sowings in a seedbed on monthly basis
Onions - for pickling and main crop
Sweet corn - sow late in period
The Glasshouse and Conservatory
Plant tomatoes in glasshouse
Sow marrows, cucumbers, pumpkins, pepinos, eggplant and peppers
Fruit
Spray peach and nectarine trees with copper based sprays
Apply citrus fertiliser to lemons
Very early in spring spray with all seasons spraying oil before buds burst
Prepare for a preventative spray programme
Lawns
Sow new lawns or small patches that need repairing
Apply a slow release lawn fertiliser
Regular mowing with blades set between 30 - 50mm high makes a great lawn and saves watering.
Resit the temptation to mow the lawn lower.
Apply moss killer or use Sulphate of Iron on lawns to kill moss. Water it in. Moss will turn black.
Ornamental Garden
- Sow annual flower seedlings in sheltered places
- Place compost and mulch on the garden.
- Cleanup the last of the winter leaves, any rubbish, dead material etc and dispose of.
- Plant out annuals in well prepared gardens plots.
- Alyssum, Pansies, Stocks, Cornflowers, Violas, Lobelia et
- Prune flowering trees and shrubs after they have flowered. Complete before spring growth starts
- Feed Roses with Rose Fertiliser and other plants with general fertiliser and/or compost.
- Spray roses with All Seasons Spraying oil to smother pests and diseases early.
- Apply a general garden protective spray
- Control weeds before they get to big
- Deadhead Camellias, pieris, proteas, Rhododendron when flowers are finished to prevent seed production.
- Prune spring flowering shrubs after flowering.
- Prick out and pot up seedlings of annuals and gradually harden them off for outdoor planting.
- Gladioli - they like 90 days to flower
- Dahlias - plant tubers with some stems still attached
- Callas - now a major export crop
- Autumn crocus - these are great plants
- Nerines - for hot dry locations and autumn colour
The Edible Garden
It’s a busy period in the vegetable patch with plenty of vegetable seed to sow. Gardeners in warmer microclimates can sow seeds a few weeks earlier. Colder microclimates which are cooler and wetter slow down growth and results in poorer crops, wait another week or so, and you’ll get faster growth.
Mulch vegetable garden with compost. Empty your compost bins and spread over the ground and/or purchase bulk compost.
Intercropping is a space saving technique for small gardens. Plant small relatively quick growing crops like radish, leafy lettuce etc between widely spaced slower growing crops such as tomatoes and sweetcorn. The small crops are harvested before the larger crops need the space.
Keep the vegetable garden weed free
- Plant cabbage, cauliflower, silverbeet, lettuces - put in a few each time to give succession cropping
- Apply compost and fertiliser into the garden
- Fertilise strawberry plants with an all purpose fertiliser
- Sow seed sparingly as to sow more than required is a waste of seed. Sowing seed thickly leads to weak and spindly plants due to overcrowding.
Spinach - first of succession sowings
Silver beet - early sowing
Spring onions - good for intercropping
Lettuce - first of succession sowings
Dwarf beans - about 100 mm apart in a double row
Scarlet runner bean - against a fence or climbing structure
Parsnips - use only fresh seed otherwise poor results
Carrots - early varieties followed by a main crop
Radish - succession planting every 2-3 weeks
Beetroot - both globe and cylindrical (best for bottling)
Leeks - in a seedbed for later transplanting
Cabbages - small sowings in a seedbed on monthly basis
Cauliflower - small sowings in a seedbed on monthly basis
Onions - for pickling and main crop
Sweet corn - sow late in period
The Glasshouse and Conservatory
Plant tomatoes in glasshouse
Sow marrows, cucumbers, pumpkins, pepinos, eggplant and peppers
Fruit
Spray peach and nectarine trees with copper based sprays
Apply citrus fertiliser to lemons
Very early in spring spray with all seasons spraying oil before buds burst
Prepare for a preventative spray programme
Lawns
Sow new lawns or small patches that need repairing
Apply a slow release lawn fertiliser
Regular mowing with blades set between 30 - 50mm high makes a great lawn and saves watering.
Resit the temptation to mow the lawn lower.
Apply moss killer or use Sulphate of Iron on lawns to kill moss. Water it in. Moss will turn black.