3 things to do in your garden this September
Spring can become busy very quickly, so this month is less about trying to do everything and more about getting a few useful things sorted before the garden really takes off. Here are three things worth doing in your garden this September.
1. Order your summer seeds and plants
If you’ve been dreaming of summer tomatoes, zucchini spilling from the vegetable patch or dahlias filling the borders, now is the time to get organised.
September is a good month to order the seeds and plants you’ll want ready for the warmer weather. Once the risk of frost has passed in your area, you can begin planting in earnest.
SHOP YOUR SPRING ESSENTIALS
Take stock before you order. Look at what worked last summer, what you wished you had planted more of and where you have room to try something different. Check seed packets tucked away from last season too, you may already have half of what you need.
There’s something rather cheering about ordering for summer while spring is only just getting underway. A packet of tomato seeds or a few dahlias on order feels like a small promise of the months ahead.
2. Sharpen your garden tools
This is one of those September garden jobs that is terribly easy to put off.
Secateurs, shears, spades and mower blades all work better when they’re sharp and properly looked after. More importantly, spring soon turns into the time when you’re reaching for them almost every day.
Give your hand tools a clean, check anything that needs sharpening and oil moving parts where needed. If your lawn mower is due for a service, book it now rather than discovering it needs attention when the lawn is growing faster than you can mow it.
A little time spent on your tools at the beginning of spring saves a surprising amount of frustration later.
3. Go for a bulb walk
This may be our favourite job on the September garden list because it doesn’t feel much like a job at all.
Take a slow walk through the garden while the spring bulbs are flowering. Look closely at what has come up, where the displays feel generous and where things look a little sparse.
Make notes as you go. Are there bulbs you’d like to move once they’ve finished? A bare patch that needs filling next year? A tree that would suit a sweep of bulbs underneath it? Perhaps there is a variety flowering now that you’d like to order more of for next season.
It’s remarkably difficult to remember these things months later when bulb-ordering time comes around. A few notes or photographs taken now will give you a useful record of what the garden actually looked like in spring.
SHOP YOUR SPRING ESSENTIALS
It’s also an excuse to simply wander. Gardening can so easily become a succession of jobs that sometimes we forget to stop and observe what the garden is doing.
September is a month for both, a little preparation, and a little looking.
Summer will be here soon enough.
