Is anyone else lonesome saying Bye September? I don’t know about you, but all of this talk of Coronavirus, the “difficult winter” ahead and gloomy predictions by foreboding health experts is enough to give anyone heartburn. If you feel that a fog of impending doom is bearing down, you are probably not spending enough time in the garden!
It is glorious outside, the first of the frost has started to glisten on the grass over the last few mornings making for some crisp and fresh days, perfect for getting a few things done in the garden. As we are coming into October there are a few things that we can do now to get ready for the colder months ahead.
Containers & Window Boxes
Your window boxes and containers might be starting to look a little sad right now. My yellow Begonias are not looking their best, so it is time for a change. There are a number of frost hard annuals that you can plant into your containers at this time of year. Winter flowering Pansys and Violas, Cyclamen and Autumn flowering heathers give non-stop colour from now until Christmas. I love to have my pots looking bright and cheerful, especially when the weather turns decidedly grey.
Flower Beds & Borders
My own flower beds are still looking great and my Dahlias are still holding flower, notwithstanding the recent grass frost. It will soon be time to cut back the perennials, but I’m leaving mine for a little bit longer. I’m enjoying the stunning colour too much to cut them back just yet.
Vegetable Garden
Our Vegetable garden is looking a little overgrown at the moment and so a clear out needs to be done. But first I still have some veg that needs to harvested, including Turnips. I have to admit, my success with turnips this year has not been great. They are a fine size, but if I boiled them from now until Christmas they would still be hard as a rock! One theory I have, is that I did not manure the soil well enough last Autumn and that this caused the soil to become compacted, which affected the growth of the Turnips. That is something that I will have to remedy this year. For the moment, I’m just going to clear our beds and get them ready for the winter.
Transplanting
I know that I chatted about this in the last Newsletter, but make sure to earmark any plants that you would like to move and I will give some helpful tips about transplanting in the newsletters over the coming weeks.
In the meantime, I highly recommend putting your phone in a drawer, turning off the radio and going outside to enjoy the crisp air and the sound silence, it will do your mental health the power of good.
As always if you need any help, call in anytime to see me,
Lynda
I have my next kids Gardening class coming up on Saturday 10th October at 11am. If you are interested in booking your space, just click on this link. Children will be planting seeds at the class and learning how to take care of them over the months ahead. It is a very hands on and practical class, wellies and coats are highly recommended. We will be outside for the hour long class and children will bring some seeds to plant when they get home. I love to encourage our younger generation to get involved in seeing were our vegetables come from. There is nothing like getting hands on experience that they will bring with them into their teenage and adult years.