September in the garden

September in the gardenis the time of harvesting fruit and vegetables, but also the month in which we say goodbye to summer and start preparing the garden for winter. Around 23 September, the autumn equinox will take place and this is the day we have assumed to be the first day of autumn. AlthoughSeptember in the gardenis still sunny and warm, the sun's rays do not provide as much heat as in August. We have to take into account cold nights and the possibility of morning frosts at the end of the month. See whatgardening work in Septemberis the most important!

September in the garden - we can admire the last summer flowers

September in the orchard

• September in the fruit gardenis an abundant month as we can start harvesting the autumn apples and pears. The proper harvest date is 1-2 weeks before maturity. In order not to miss this moment, it is worth observing the orchard and starting picking when the first fruits start falling from the trees on their own. First we collect the largest fruits, and after about a week the rest.
• We also collect mid-late and late varieties of plums, early grape varieties from field cultivation, blackberries, and recurring varieties of strawberries and raspberries. This month, walnuts and common hazel also bear fruit.

Note!Walnuts are collected only after they have fallen from the tree, and hazelnuts - when they are fully ripe and fall out of the casing. After harvesting, dry the hazelnuts for 2-3 weeks.

• Even before we start harvesting, it is worth preparing a room where we will store the fruit.Three weeks before the date of storage, the fruit storage room, e.g. a cellar, must be whitened. It is also worth spraying the rooms with a fungicide, using, for example, Miedzian 50 WP, thanks to which we will avoid damaging the fruit by fungal diseases.
• The time for the autumn planting of fruit trees and shrubs is slowly approaching. Before we proceed to this activity, it is necessary to prepare the soil for the orchard in advance.

• Fallen fruit and leaves with visible symptoms of disease need to be collected and then buried deeply or burnt. In this way, we limit the source of the spread of the infection in the coming years.
• This month, sour cherries may be infected by diseases such as: bacterial cancer of fruit trees and brown rot of stone trees. If trees are heavily infested, remove them and prepare for new plantings in October.
• On plum trunks it is worth to put bands made of corrugated paper (with the wavy part to the bottom). This will allow us to catch the caterpillars of the fruit plum coming out of the fruit and going down for wintering.
• Early spring acorn can be the cause of the appearance of holes in leaves, bites of flower buds, damaged fruit buds in apple trees, pear trees, plums, cherries, and some ornamental trees. We fight it at the turn of September and October by installing sticky traps on the trunks in the form of a paper or foil funnel covered with adhesive on the bottom, surrounding the tree trunk. These traps will stop females moving up the trunk. This treatment will avoid the use of chemical spraying against this pest in the spring.
• If in spring tiny flies (2 mm long) were visible among raspberry bushes, it could have been the raspberry midge. The larvae of this pest are legless, orange, up to 2.5 mm long. The larvae feed in groups of several or a dozen or so under the skin of the shoot.Here, they secrete enzymatic substances that cause tissue growth and the formation of gall-like growths 5 cm long and up to 3 cm wide on the brushes. The larvae feed and winter in these growths. To get rid of the larvae of this pest, all infested and distorted shoots (with growths) are cut low above the ground and the ground around the bushes is mulched.

September in the vegetable garden

• September in the vegetable gardenis also the harvest period, as in the orchard. This month the harvest of thermophilic vegetables such as cucumbers (and other cucurbits), peppers and tomatoes should be completed. Why? Well, in September, frosts can occur at any time, and even minimal temperature drops below 0 ° C will be deadly for these plants. Tomatoes should be picked all and not fully ripe, placed in rooms where the temperature remains at 10 ° C. You can also pick up whole bushes and hang them in a dry and cool place, where they slowly mature.

• Pick broad beans and beans for dry grains (pull beans for dry seeds when the leaves turn yellow and begin to fall, and the pods are creamy or yellowish and dry), and onions for winter storage.
• We also start harvesting root vegetables, incl. beetroot, carrot, parsley and celery.
• Some spice crops can still be harvested, such as lovage and savory.
• After harvesting, plant remains that were infected with diseases should be removed and burned. The remnants of he althy plants should be composted.
• In the first half of the month, top the Brussels sprouts. We carry out this treatment when the heads are already set on the entire plant. Topping makes the Brussels sprouts mature more evenly, which makes harvesting easier.
• Until the middle of the month, you can sow leaf beets for overwintering and early harvest (40 x 15 cm in the nest), lamb's lettuce (recommended: 3 x 15 cm) and vegetable spinach (10 x 20 cm).
• In the second half of September, we are planting spring onions. In this period, we plant it deeper and denser than in the spring.
• Those who like garden rhubarb can breed this plant right now. We dig out the mother plants and divide the carps with a sharp spade into several smaller parts. Each seedling created in this way should have 1-2 well-developed roots and buds. When the cutting wounds are dry (which lasts from 2 to 3 hours), plant the seedlings into holes with compost or well-decomposed manure.
• At the end of the month, it is worth digging the soil in the vegetable garden. This is especially important on heavy soils, because the soil left for winter in the so-called sharp furrow (after digging, do not rake or level), due to frost, it acquires a better structure and becomes more permeable to water. By the way, some of the pests brought to the surface during digging will die in winter during frosts.
• If September is dry and sunny, you should continue to irrigate your crops regularly. A sufficient amount of water in the soil will allow the roots of late varieties of carrots, beets sown in July, scorzonera, radishes, and radishes to grow up. The conditions for the growth of cruciferous vegetables, which require a lot of water, will also improve, especially during the setting and growing of heads or roses.
• For winter use, it is worth sowing parsley and celery into larger pots at home. These vegetables will ripen perfectly on the window sill.

September in the ornamental garden

• September in the ornamental gardenis the time when we can still present the last flowers of summer. The plants that bloom wonderfully in September include, among others. purple coneflower. To prolong its flowering, it is worth removing faded inflorescences.
• We systematically remove the wilting flowers of repeated-blooming roses from the shoots. Thanks to this treatment, these shrubs will also bloom longer. If, on the other hand, we grow garden roses that do not repeat flowering, we can trim their shoots and prepare shoot cuttings.
• In flowerbeds, we hoe the substrate and remove the weeds to prevent them from spreading seeds. Thanks to this, they should not appear in too many next spring.
• While hoeing and moving the soil, it may happen that we find turtles in the ground. These are quite large insects which damage plant roots by digging underground corridors. September is a good month to set traps for snacks. If we have a problem with turfing, it is worth burying a small amount of horse manure in the ground. In these places, the crowds will gather, seeking shelter for the winter, which will make it easier to catch them.

• Slowly we can start planting ornamental trees and shrubs and planting bulbs. In order to protect the bulbs against attacks of fungal diseases, it is worth to season them before planting by soaking them in a solution of a fungicidal preparation for the treatment of bulbs.
• Bear's garlic should be planted in flower beds among bulbs. The decoration is small, but its garlic scent deters some plant pests, and in spring the leaves of wild garlic can be used in salads.
• We plant heathers that bloom beautifully in autumn. The best places to set up heather beds are sunny positions with light and permeable, humus soil with a pH of 3.5 to 5.0. When planting, young heathers should be inoculated with a special mycorrhiza for heather plants. As a result, the plants on the moor will adapt much more easily and will better tolerate adverse soil conditions and periods of drought in the future.
• The beginning of September is the last moment to plant biennial plants, such as pansies or daisies, on flowerbeds. Then they will bloom beautifully in the spring.
• We can start transplanting perennials. When doing this, it is worth dividing perennials in order to multiply and rejuvenate them. Thanks to this, in the next year they will grow well and bloom profusely (depending on the rate of plant growth, they should be divided every 2-5 years). Each fragment of a divided plant should contain several he althy shoots and its own root system. Before planting, the wounds formed after splitting should be sprinkled with a suitable fungicide.

• In the beginningof September in the garden , lilies that grew for several years in the same place are dug up. After the bulbs have been separated, they are planted in a new place or stored until spring planting in a refrigerator (temperature 2-4 ° C), sprinkled with peat and packed in foil bags.
• A little later (end of the month) dig out the gladiolus tubers from the bed. After cleaning, separate the small incoming tubers from the mother tubers and dry them all together. We can store them in cool places in the basement.
• After drying, dig out tubers of tuberous begonia as well. Tubers should be cleaned and their upper side sprinkled with fungicide. Then we put them in a box with dry sand or peat. We keep them in a cool and dry place during the winter.

• Summer flowers that have already ended their life should be composted.
• On dry and sunny days, collect the seeds of annual plants.Most of the seeds can be packed in paper bags and left in a dry place until spring. Some species, such as black seed, cornflower, California poppy, marigold or delphinium, can be sown in September - plants obtained from autumn sowing will start growing and flowering earlier in the next year.

• The first leaves falling from the trees will appear in the gardenin September. If you take too long to clean them (you have a large garden and many trees), consider purchasing a garden vacuum cleaner. The use of this device will speed up the cleaning of leaves. The vacuum cleaner sucks in the leaves through a special inlet pipe and they immediately fall into the attached bag. When buying a garden vacuum cleaner, choose a model with a mulching function. Thanks to this, the volume of leaves stored in bags will be reduced by up to 10 times!

Flowers in the house, balconies and terraces:

• The period of planting evergreen plants growing in balcony boxes, such as e.g. heather, begins.
• We are finishing fertilizing plants grown in containers. In order for this year's shoots not to develop anymore, the last possible date of fertilization is the end of August or possibly the turn of August and September. This rule also applies to cacti and succulents.
• We also limit watering plants on balconies and terraces - we still water, but less often and less abundantly.
• Plants placed on the balcony or in the garden should be taken to their position in the apartment. We move the palms, ferns and fig trees the first, washing the pots and the plants growing in them.
• From September, we can plant hyacinth bulbs and other bulbs for winter forcing into pots.

Lawn in September

• Lawn in Septembermow regularly, preferably once a week. September is still a month of intensive growth of grasses.
• We mow the grass in flower meadows. The second mowing of the grasses should be done when the flowers are gone, but before the flower shoots wither.
• " In sunny weather, we can apply a thin layer of compost to the lawn. Apply the compost in a very thin layer using a birch twig broom. Apparently, such top dressing is the secret of the beauty of the famous English lawns. "
• The second half of September is the perfect time to plant crocuses on your lawn. Thanks to this, in the spring, right after the snow melts, when the grass does not look impressive yet, crocus flowers will decorate the lawn.

How to plan work in the garden?

If you want to prepare as best as possible for gardening work for a given month and be sure that you will never miss anything important that needs to be done in the garden again, use the resourceful gardener's planner calendar book. It is a practical gardening guide with a gardening calendar for the whole year and a place for your own notes.More information in the description on our store's website: -)