When I wrote last month’s gardening post, the sun was shining and everything seemed to be blossoming and fruiting. Fast forward a few weeks to September in my garden and what a change. As I write, it’s overcast and raining. And there’s a distinct chill in the air at night. Autumn is definitely on her way.
What’s flowering now?
Not as much as this time last year, sadly. I think the heatwave earlier this year meant that everything flowered early and then suffered with the excessive heat. (My water rates bill has shot up this year, no doubt due to all the dousing I had to do over the summer).
But it’s not all gloom, there’s still plenty of colour and, more importantly, plenty of opportunities for the bees to find food, around our pond in particular. Our pink Cosmos is a runaway success and looks stunning next to the white Japanese Anemones, and purple Asters.
Last year I cut off the spent sunflower heads and left them to dry so the birds could harvest their seeds. I’ve done the same again this year, and I’m keeping a few seeds back to sow again next year too 🙂
And speaking of seeds, just look at this glorious tumble of fragrant petunias next to our conservatory. Can you believe all these flowers are from one plant, grown from one tiny seed the size of a poppy seed? Isn’t this a great advert for growing your own flowers?
More of my dahlias are beginning to flower now, including another favourite, Thomas Edison dahlia grown from a tuber last year and then mulched over winter rather than lifted and stored. (I just can’t be bothered with the faff!)
An unexpected surprise and delight was the beautiful purple flowering Malva (this post’s cover pic) next to our skeleton bench. I didn’t plant it here so it must have grown from a seed blown over from who knows where.
What’s fruiting now?
Our deliciously crunchy Burpless Green cucumbers are all but over, we have two left to harvest but then it will be time to clear them out of the greenhouse. Ditto our tomatoes, which are nearing the end. They’ve given us a pretty good harvest, considering they’ve been baking under glass this summer and they really prefer cooler conditions. Next year I’m only going to sow Burpless Green and our favourite Thompson & Morgan’s Rainbow Blend tomatoes, they’re the most colourful and flavoursome of any we’ve tried.
And for the first time ever, we have two pumpkins, grown from our May Mud and Bloom box. OK, they’re pretty small and will have to go some to be ready for Hallowe’en but still, I’m very excited about them 🙂
We have a bumper crop of pears this year from our Poundstore pear tree (yes, really!) planted seven years ago. You can tell when pears are ready for picking by twisting them gently three times. If they come off easily, they’re ready, if they don’t, they need a little longer on the tree. Once picked, leave them to ripen, soften and sweeten up in your fruit bowl before eating.
Our apples are over, bar a few fallers, and there weren’t enough peaches to make jam with. We did manage to harvest a few peaches though, and they were delicious: juicy white flesh with a blush, well worth the wait.
Much to my surprise, our strawberry plants are fruiting again – Flora picked some a couple of evenings ago and pronounced them sweet and juicy. But the biggest success story has to be our grapevine. I hard pruned it this Spring (and I do mean, hard, back to the basic trunk structure). Look at it now, haha.
It’s got masses of bunches on it, I need to get up the ladder again to prune some foliage away so the grapes can ripen. They’re sweetly edible but as there are so many, we’ll probably just leave most of them for the birds (again).
Jobs for September
Thankfully, my harvesting, watering and deadheading has slowed down now. Instead, I’m getting ready to divide some perennials like my Crocosmia to make new plants. And Gardeners’ World had a really helpful segment on taking and growing softwood cuttings recently. I’ve been inspired to try with some of our roses as, unlike sowing from seed, if you take a cutting from a plant it will be a clone, which is great if you really love the original.
Later this month we’ll be raking up all the fallen leaves and squashing them into biodegradable hessian sacks or black bin liners with a few punctured holes. This time next year they’ll have turned into lovely, crumbly leaf mould. I’ll use this either to improve our soil drainage or just as a mulch for our bulb pots over winter.
September in my garden
I hope you’ve enjoyed another ramble through our garden and orchard this month? We’re very lucky to have the space for me to indulge my love of sowing, growing, cutting and harvesting our own. I describe myself as a keen but clueless gardener and that’s true, I’ve only been doing this for six years. Everything I do, I’ve picked up by watching Gardeners’ World or reading books. Although I have to say, Nature is my best teacher 🙂 What will you be doing in your outside space this September?
Ah Lisa, I love your blog so much, and especially your posts all about your outdoor space. I’ve always dreamed of having a garden of my own to indulge my love of growing things in, but until that day comes I’ll have to live vicariously through your posts! Such a riot of colour and such gorgeous descriptions, all the plants you still have flowering are just so utterly gorgeous. Looking forward to the next one!
Cordelia || cordeliamoor.com
Oh Cordelia, what a lovely thing to say, thank you soooo much! We’re very lucky to have the space for me to tinker about in, I can’t really take credit for the flowers though, I think I’ve been lucky with what I’ve planted and our soil. But they make me very happy, so I’m glad they do the same for you too 🙂 xxx
Wow! I’m amazed you have only been gardening for 6 years Lisa, you seem like a lifelong professional gardener! You have definitely learnt so much over the years, you garden always looks fantastic. I’m loving the combination of pink, white & purple flowers together, they look super pretty. That’s amazing that all those gorgeous petunias came from one tiny seed. That’s so exciting you are growing your own pumpkins this year too, fingers crossed they will be ready in time for Halloween! Lovely post, always enjoy seeing your beautiful garden, thank you for sharing <3 xx
Aw Bexa, STOP, haha. Thank you so much for your lovely comments though! Spending time in my garden is my way of pampering and self-care, slightly mad as that sounds (!) because I get so much pleasure from seeing what grows where. I’m very lucky 🙂 And yes, fingers crossed for the pumpkins – I suspect we’ll only have one very tiny Jack O’Lantern though! xxx
Oh Lisa, I look forward to seeing your garden. Such a lovely post.
Our neighbour’s pear tree overhangs our fence and we have been invited to help ourselves. That’s something we don’t have, although we’ve discussed plums for next year. 🙂 I love that Malva – purple is my favourite colour and anything photogenic can only be good.
Have a lovely weekend and I hope you enjoy autumn in your garden.
Thank you so much, Louise 🙂 I love my Malva too, it’s such a gorgeous shade of purple. How kind of your neighbour, I hope you enjoy the pears. Our plum tree had a grand total of 3 plums this year but that was because we had to cut it back so hard in Spring. Hopefully next year it will yield its usual heavy crop! x
Your flowers are all so gorgeous (as are your photos), and it’s amazing that you grow so much fruit. That wolf ornamemt is so pretty too! I always love these posts ?
Amy xx
Thank you so much, Amy 🙂 The wolf is a fairly recent addition to the menagerie, Alan just can’t help himself, haha xx
I love your garden Lisa, like you say there’s so much enjoyment in growing your own flowers from seeds, we did this with poppies, nasturtiums, pansies and echinops this year. Thankfully the gardens perked up loads after the heatwave but my lawn now needs mowing weekly ha
Oooh, I haven’t tried echinops, that’s one for next year, I could do with something that can cope better in the heat 🙂 Yes, Alan is not happy about having to mow every week, that’s for sure, haha! xx
I’m loving everything in your garden this month!!! the flowers are gorgeous and especially envious of the strawberries. NYC apartment living does not allow for anything so cool sadly.. however, my husband has a green thumb and we did plant basil in the kitchen window sil which is seriously thriving, it’s almost to the ceiling! And we used some for some fresh pasta the other night, so it kinda made me feel like we had our own garden in some small way.. haha – 🙂 xx Bee
Thank you so much! Actually, I struggle with herbs, I do far better with outdoor plants, haha. And I feel you, we lived in an apartment for 15 years before we moved to our house here 🙂 x
I’m sorry to hear you’ve not had as much as last year but what you have had is beautiful! I had no idea that birds could harvest dried sunflower seeds so I’ve learnt something new! I don’t have sunflowers in the garden at the minute but love them, so they’re something I’d love to add!
Soph – https://sophhearts.com x
Ah, thank you, Soph! I only found out about sunflower heads last year, Alan buys birdseed with their seeds included so I thought, why not try with our dead flower heads, haha xx
Ahh wow, I loved this so much! Gorgeous photos!
Thank you!
I just LOVE how thrifty you are Lisa, £1 pear trees, harvesting all of your own fruits & veggies, turning fallen leaves into mulch ready for next years bulbs and also how considerate you are to the wildlife, it’s always such a pleasure to read your gardening posts, you passion really does shine through! x x
Ellis
Aw, thank you, Ellis, what a lovely thing to say! Yes, the pear tree was spectacularly thrifty, haha, Alan bought two cherry trees at the same time, 3 for £5 🙂 xx
Lovely post, I love all the purple that seems to have sprung lately! Very pretty 🙂 xxx
Thank you, Jenny, it wasn’t especially planned but I’m very happy about it! xx
Such pretty flowers! I loved seeing what fruits and veg you are growing too.. my fella has started growing things in our garden (I don’t have anything to do with it) but I enjoy seeing what we get from it. So far we’ve had a few courgettes.. but we have lots growing in the greenhouse now and in our raised beds. Look forward to seeing your future posts as everything grows! Thanks for sharing ♥
Thank you 🙂 And yay, you have raised beds and a greenhouse, you are lucky! I’d like to grow more vegetables than we do, but that means asking my husband to make me some raised beds, and I’m not sure he’d be too thrilled about that, haha. Will you write a gardening post in due course, do you think? I’d love to see what you grow too xx
Beautiful photos Lisa. I really miss have a garden of my own to tend too but I do have a few indoor plant babies I care for. I love how you leave the sunflowers out for the birds to take their seeds – this is a great idea.
Thank you, Kim 🙂 I do love my garden but my indoor plant game is not strong so I’m in awe of anyone who can keep indoor plants alive! Xx