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September has arrived and the mornings are starting to feel like autumn with the daylight hours shortening. September can still be busy bringing in the rest of the harvest as well as preparing for next year’s crops and display.

August can often be one of the busiest months, taken up by harvesting the various crops, plus preparing for future crops.
 
1.    Harvesting crops this month is the main priority. There will be plenty of Runner and French Beans to harvest by the bucket full as these are now cropping well. Other crops to pick are Courgettes, Marrows, Sweetcorn, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Lettuce, Beetroot, Radish, Spring Onions, Carrots, Calabrese, plus cutting the various cut flowers grown on my allotment. 
 
2.    If you have an old strawberry bed that needs regenerating or you want to increase the size of your strawberry bed next year, this is best done during early August. Your old established plants should be producing plenty of runners; these can be pegged down with a wire hoop into pots or trays. These will quickly root and then once rooted; they can be cut away from the mother plants ready for planting your new strawberry bed this autumn. Alternatively, you can order new plants from our mail order website. 
 
3.    Fill any gaps on the vegetable plot with over winter Lettuce. From August through to October you can sow direct outside varieties like Arctic King, Winter Density and Winter Imperial. With a little winter cloche protection, you will have tasty lettuces to cut early next year.
 
4.    This month is the time to lift and store early and second early potatoes for future use. I always take my time to carefully fork out the tubers and dry them in the sun for about 1 hour, and then I put them into potato sacks. You can leave main crop potatoes for harvesting early next month. If you have cut the foliage down from your potatoes because they were affected by blight, do not lift the tubers for at least three weeks after cutting the foliage down. Otherwise the blight fungal spores could still affect the tubers you store as they are lifted through the soil and ruin your crop.
 
5.    This month you can sow Spring cabbage like Wheelers Imperial or April in a seed bed outside, then once plants are large enough these can be transplanted to a space on the veg plot. These will stand all winter and can be harvested either as spring greens or as full size heads early next year. You can also try Winter Green that will mature into tasty spring greens.
 
6.    Often at this time of year many early flowering annuals and perennial plants start to look tired or have already finished flowering. I like to cut these back hard or sometimes remove them totally from the borders during this month. Then to ensure there is still colour in the garden, I stand some of my flowering patio containers in their place to fill the gaps and prolong my colourful display.
 
7.    Sweet corn will be ready to harvest later this month. An easy way to check if it is ready to eat is when the Silks (tassels) turn brown and the cobs look swollen. Then carefully pull back a little of the sheath around the cob, push your fingernail into one of the kernels, and if a milky juice comes out they are in perfect condition for eating, both raw in a salad, added to the BBQ or cooked whole in the microwave.  If you are in an area where there is a high population of Badgers, it is wise to put some net protection around your sweetcorn crop as these animals love sweetcorn and can easily decimate a crop overnight.
 
8.    If you have some very good baskets of Trailing Geraniums or Pots of Zonal Geraniums, why not take your own cuttings. Geranium cuttings taken now root very easily. Simply trim off shoots about 2.5 cm (2in) long, and cut just below a pair of leaves. Then remove the bottom pair of leaves and any flower buds. This cutting is now ready, I then like to dip the cut end into Hormone Rooting Powder, this is now ready for inserting into pots or trays filled with moist Multipurpose Compost. Cuttings taken at this time of year root very easily if placed on the bench in a greenhouse or even stood outside in a semi shaded part of the garden (Unlike other cuttings, Geranium cuttings DO NOT need covering with polythene to aid rooting). After initial watering, keep trays of compost on the dry side whilst rooting, this will help prevent stem rot (Blackleg) occurring. Plants should be rooted in 14-21 days.
 
9.    As space comes available from where early harvested crops or potatoes were, make sure you fill it up again, as now is a good time to sow some over wintering Japanese Onions like Senshyu Yellow. Sown now outside in drills these will quickly germinate and will be ready for thinning early next year as spring onions then leave the rest to mature as full sized onions for use from June onwards. I find these a useful crop to grow as; you will have onions ready to use just as your stored onions have finished. Overwinter Spring Onions can also be sown this month like White Lisbon winter hardy or Gerda.
 
10.   If not done so yet there is still time this month to sow some Biennials such as Bellis, Pansy, Viola and Forget me nots, to flower next spring into early summer. Viola and Pansies dislike germinating in hot temperatures , so my fridge chilling trick below as with Lettuce will also work with these. If temperature is above 20C which can be quite often at this time of year, this can inhibit germination of these items. Put the seed packets in a fridge the night before sowing so the seed is chilled down, and germination will be much better.
 

July brings sunshine and many crops to harvest, as well time to hopefully enjoy the summer garden, but as always, we must also start looking ahead to next year’s display and a few autumn crops.  
 
1.    As crops are harvested, rather than have empty ground, try to refill the spaces with quick growing salad crops like Radish, Beetroot, Rocket, Mizuna and Salad Turnip Sweet Bell.
 
2.    I like to make a late sowing of Dwarf French Beans and Climbing French beans this month, maturing in 8-10 weeks after sowing, just in time to harvest in September or early October. I sow the seeds direct outside into drills on the vegetable plot or I sow into pots or modules and plant out later as spaces appear on the plot.
 
3.    I am always looking ahead, and  this month I always sow some early maturing carrots like Carrot Early Nantes or Eskimo, so I have fresh young new carrots ready to harvest for Christmas. When sowing outside at this time of year, make sure you water the seed drill first before sowing the seed, then cover over the seed with dry soil, this will trap the moisture below the ground where the seeds need it. Germination at this time of year is usually quick and they can be up in 10-14 days.  
 
4.    Once the summer fruiting Raspberry canes have finished fruiting, it is time for a tidy up. I cut the old fruited brown-stemmed canes down to the ground, leaving the new green-stemmed ones. I then tie these into my wire framework, ready for next year’s harvest. If you are looking to replace any old canes these are available to order in our autumn catalogue and on our website now and will be delivered this autumn. Make sure to order before 31st October to recieve them this year.
 
5.    Continue sowing Lettuce every 2-3 weeks for a continuous supply into autumn. When sowing during hot weather a handy tip is place the seed packet in the fridge the night before sowing. This will chill the seed down and aid germination, as lettuce can be tricky to germinate if temperatures are higher than 20C. I find the fridge chilling trick helps the seeds germinate better when it’s hot.
 
6.    The Summer garden looks great at the moment but now is the time to  look ahead to what will replace those summer bedding plants . This month I am going to sow some Biennials like Bellis, Pansy and Forget me nots and a few Perennials, to flower next spring into early summer. I like to sow Foxgloves and Canterbury bells, Hollyhocks and Delphiniums so I have plants large enough for planting out in October. These are sown in trays of seed sowing compost in a cool greenhouse or cold frame. You can also sow Wallflowers and Sweet Williams outside in drills on a spare piece of ground and transplant to borders in the autumn when large enough. Viola and Pansies also dislike germinating in hot temperatures, so my fridge chilling trick as with Lettuce will also work with these.
 
7.    It is important at this time of year to keep on top of harvesting. Picking crops regularly like Courgettes, cucumbers, Beans and Peas will ensure they are at their freshest and full of flavour, rather than old and tasteless.
 
8.    Dahlias start flowering in July right through to the autumn, but these can often be spoiled by an attack of Earwigs, so now is the time to set an Earwig Trap. This is a very easy device to make. All you do is take a flowerpot and fill it with straw or hay and put it upturned on top of a bamboo cane amongst your Dahlias. The Earwigs will hide in this pot during the day, then each morning you can check your traps for Earwigs and dispose of them. The same method of control works very well on Chrysanthemums, keeping the blooms nibble free.
 
9.    Salad crops like Salad leaves, radish and spinach will quickly run to seed if the weather turns very hot and dry. One way of overcoming this problem is sowing these crops in between taller crops like Sweetcorn or rows of runner beans, so they get a little dapple shade. Once germinated keep moist at all times until they are ready to harvest.
 
10.     Runner Bean crops will be fruiting well this month and picking regularly will ensure you harvest tender beans. Runner Beans will put up with hot daytime temperatures, but do not like hot nights as this can cause the plants stress and make flowers drop rather than set beans. Try to keep plants well-watered and if possible, spray water over the foliage in the evenings to help cool the plants down.

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