The Potting Shed

September 2019

Working

Jobs to Do in the Garden this Month

Taken from this month's Newsletter

  • Cut back, lift and divide summer flowering herbaceous perennials. Replant or pot up divisions and water well. Bring excess plants to the Club Plant Sale.

  • Lift tender perennials such as fuchsias, gazanias, lantanas and abutilons before the frosts arrive. Cut back and store in a frost-free greenhouse to overwinter.

  • Move self-seeded biennials such as foxgloves and teasels if they are not growing in suitable locations.

  • Take semi-ripe cuttings of hebes, privet, heathers and viburnum

  • Plant prepared hyacinths for Christmas flowering

  • Pick autumn raspberries and cut out old wood from summer flowering raspberries

  • Dig up remaining potatoes before the slugs get them

  • Place boards or tiles under pumpkins and squash to prevent the bases rotting

  • Lightly trim hornbeam and beech to keep them neat and provide screening through winter

  • Speed ripening of outdoor tomatoes by laying lifted plants on straw and cover with a cloche or hang in a cool shed

  • Scarify, aerate and top dress established lawns. Sow grass seed or lay turf as required

  • Put netting over ponds before leaf fall

  • Clean birdbaths out with a mild detergent to help prevent the spread of disease

  • Freeze herbs in ice cube trays for use later

  • Start to reduce the frequency of houseplant watering

Relaxing

What's Looking Good in the Garden

  • Aster x frikartii 'Mönch'

  • Hylotelephium spectabile 'Indian Chief'

  • Scabiosa 'Gelato Blueberry' & French Marigold

  • Clematis 'Polish Spirit'

  • Solidago

  • Annual Bedding Aster

  • Rudbeckia subtomentosa 'Henry Eilers'

  • Lythrum virgatum 'Dropmore Purple'

Thinking

This Month's Wordsearch

Visiting

Places to Go and Things to Do

  • NGS - Dipley Mill, Dipley Road, Hook, RG27 8JP, Sunday 29 September, 2pm - 5:30pm

  • See what's happening at other local clubs via the Surrey Horticultural Federation web site

  • WGC October Club Meeting - 'Ferns & their Companions', George Lockwood, Tuesday 8th October, 8pm

  • WGC November Club Meeting - 'Wild Britain - Channel Islands to Scotland', Nigel Choat, Tuesday 12th November, 8pm

  • SHF AGM and Quiz. Normandy Village Hall, Sunday 17th November, 2:30pm - 5pm

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