The Potting Shed

September 2020

Here are the current list of changes to our proposed Programme for 2020. We will continue to monitor and make any additional changes as needed.

  • Coach Trip (5th September) - This has been postponed to September 2021

  • NGS Open Garden Visit - Sunday 6th September, 2.30pm. A private opening of 2 Chinthurst Lodge, Wonersh on behalf of the National Garden Scheme. Cost £6. Details are in the Newsletter and have also been circulated to Members.

  • WGC September Meeting - Tuesday 8th September, Zoom Web meeting with live speaker, John Baker talking about 'Butterflies'

  • WGC October Meeting - Tuesday 13th October, Zoom Web meeting with live speaker, Sophie Leguil talking about 'Plant Heritage and the National Plant Collections'

  • WGC November Meeting - Tuesday 8th November, Zoom Web meeting with live speaker, Dr Ian Bedford talking about 'The Trouble Without Wasps'

  • WGC December Meeting - Tuesday 8th December, Expected Zoom Web meeting . Christmas Social Evening

Working

Jobs to Do in the Garden this Month

In these exceptional times, keep safe and keep gardening

  • Lift any last remaining onions and dry carefully before cleaning for storage

  • Keep watering plants in pots, but plants in boarders will usually be getting enough rain

  • Now is the time to complete your cuttings of half-hardy perennials such as fuchsias and geraniums, and semi-ripe cuttings of woody shrubs such as rosemary and lavender. Strike cuttings in a 50/50 mix of compost and perlite

  • Sow hardy annuals such as cornflower, Nigella, and Calendula

  • Plant or sow autumn vegetables such as winter onions, hardneck (winter) garlic, and some of the hardier lettuce and salad crops

  • Start autumn-sown broad beans off in pots towards the middle of the month for planting out in late October

  • Harvest the last of your tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, and courgettes

  • Pick and carefully store apples in trays in a cool garage or shed, ensuring that fruits are not touching

  • Pick and use chillies as they ripen on the plant or just enjoy the shapes and colours they produce

  • Choose a dry day to gather seeds of summer flowering annuals, biennials, and perennials and collect into paper bags or envelopes for storage

  • Plan and order your spring flowering crocus, narcissi, and tulip bulbs

  • Remember to stop and enjoy your garden!

Something missing? - Use the Feedback form to suggest your own Tips and Dos and Don'ts...

Store collected seed in paper envelopes

Relaxing

What's Looking Good in the Garden - The Start of Autumn Colour

Use the arrows on the pictures to browse

  • Hylotelephium (Sedum) 'José Aubergine'

  • Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii

  • Hibiscus moscheutos

  • Aster × frikartii 'Jungfrau'

  • Apple, Malus domestica 'Sunset'

  • Clematis 'Polish Spirit'

  • Chillis, mixed

  • Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora 'Emily McKenzie'

  • Puff Ball Fungi

  • Kniphofia rooperi

  • Dahlia 'Striped Ambition'

  • Rudbeckia subtomentosa 'Henry Eilers'

  • Miscanthus sinensis 'Flamingo'

  • Dahlia 'Karma Choc'

Something missing? - Use the Feedback form to let us know your recommended plants to grow...

Thinking

This month's wordsearch with some topical words

Visiting and Seeing

Places to Go and Things to Do

  • WGC NGS Open Garden Visit - A private opening of 2 Chinthurst Lodge, Wonersh on behalf of the National Garden Scheme. Sunday 6th September, 2.30pm, £6 This garden was featured in Surrey Life magazine in 2016

  • WGC September Club Meeting - 'Butterflies', John Baker. Tuesday 8th September at 8pm via Zoom. Some photographs of butterfiles in Members' gardens and some of the plants our members are growing can be seen on the Beautiful Butterflies (September) Programme page

  • Dazzling Dahlias at Dunsborough Park - Dunsborough Park will be reopening for the first time this year, 7th-11th and 21st-26th September with a.m. and p.m. openings. As with other open gardens, numbers will be limited and pre-booking is essential. More details and booking forms are now available on their website

  • WGC October Club Meeting - 'Plant Heritage and the National Plant Collections', Sophie Leguill. Tuesday 13th October. It is expected that this will continue to be a Zoom-based meeting with a live speaker presentation

Public gardens are slowly opening back up. Almost all require pre-booking of tickets and timeslots so please check the respective web sites for more information: RHS Wisley / National Garden Scheme / The National Trust

Something missing? - Use the Feedback form to suggest places to visit or local events...

Sharing

What's been happening on our Facebook page, Blog, and Elsewhere

Worplesdon Station - See the photographs of how well the tubs, troughs, and beds have developed

Click on the photograph to see more photographs from the Station

Flowers from the Farm is a not-for-profit, co-operative network of British cut flower growers. They recently held an on-line Flower Farmers' Big Weekend where different growers from around the country shared their experience and stories about growing cut flowers. There are many interesting videos from the different growers, including one by Clare Brown who runs Plant Passion in East Clandon, who was one of our Club speakers in November 2014.

The Before and After of Wind Damage to a Nicotiana


...and to some lovely Sunflowers

A Bumble Bee Hive in a Conifer

Some lovely looking Tomatoes from the Garden

August looking quite Orange...

An Unusual Find - Robin’s Pin Cushion (Rose Bedeguer Gall) caused by the Gall Wasp Diplolepis rosae

Something missing? - Use the Feedback form to suggest other items to share with Members...

Remembering

The Old 'Potting Shed' Pages for 2020

If you have any comments or suggestions about the web site please use the Feedback Page. You can also add gardening advice, plants to grow, and places to visit.