Gardening tips for September 2025

Last September, I was moaning about the rotten weather and the lack of any warm weather in the summer. What a contrast this year, it seems to have gone from summer to winter, missing spring altogether. The results of sunny weather can be seen all around, trees heavy with fruit and nut (not the chocolate variety) and berries in the hedgerows. Some say that a good year for fruit etc is a sign of a long cold winter ahead whereas it must simply be a good growing season, we will see.

Another advantage of a good growing season is the exhibits at this year’s EGRGA Autumn Show should be excellent. So, if you have never entered anything at one of our shows, this could be the year for you to excel. Have a look at our website for how to enter and come along to the show. Having an entry always adds a touch of excitement. seeing if you have managed to win a class or at the very least not come last! I have done that a few times but it is all part of the fun. And the date for your diary is Saturday 13^th September as Rudgwick Village Hall. The show opens at 2:30 pm, however, if you are entering any of the classes, you need to have registered your entries by 10:00 pm on Thursday September 11 (see our website for details or follow the instructions if you have an EGRGA member’s handbook). And lastly regarding the autumn show, we are supported again by the Ellens Green Art Group who always stage an excellent exhibition of their art. For membership of this group, please speak to any of the artists who will be on duty during the show.

To pick up on the mulching theme from July, anyone who mulched their borders or kitchen garden earlier in the year should be feeling smug in the knowledge that mulching will have saved them time and money on watering.  With such a dry spring and summer, watering is somewhat inevitable but reducing the need with a simple mulch is time and/or money well spent. And mulches don’t have to be purchased; a summer’s worth of grass clippings spread onto the borders is a good job done. Now into September, mulching isn’t necessarily about water retention as the autumn and winter should bring the return of that once common everyday stuff we call rain.September mulching is more about returning nutrients back into the soil ready for next year’s growing season.

The kitchen garden

Mostly harvesting fruit and veg from the garden but there is time to get sowing, choose from Swiss chard, broad beans, spinach and salad crops such as radish and lettuce which can be surprisingly hardy. If you’re quick and get some potatoes planted there is a good chance of having a fresh crop to dig up in time for Christmas. It is also time to prepare the beds for planting onion sets. Keep feeding tomatoes, any that are starting to ripen will carry on ripening if picked and brought inside. To aid ripening, add a banana to your bowl of tomatoes to give then some encouragement, any remaining green ones are destined for the green tomato chutney that our gardening robot was talking about last month.

The flower garden

Anything still in flower will benefit from dead heading, this applies particularly to roses and dahlias. I know that wallflowers aren’t particularly trendy anymore, which is a shame because they are a really good choice for September planting, they really are perfect as winter and spring bedding. If you already have them in your garden or you get some planted now, keep deadheading and they will flower for months to come. The garden centres will be filling up with spring bulbs, so now is a good time to get them planted while there is still warmth in the soil. This will encourage them to get their roots down into the ground ready for spring.

Lawns

Lawns haven’t fared that badly, considering the lack of water. They were starting to look a bit crispy back in July but there was just enough rain to remind the grass that is supposed to be green and green up it has done, a bit patchy perhaps but it does demonstrate how resilient grass can be and watering the lawn is an expensive waste of a valuable asset. Lawns always come good again during the autumn. If you do have dead patches, rake up the dead grass or thatch and reseed. With the correct growing conditions, the grass seed should put on enough growth before things start slowing done for the winter.

Fish ponds

The hot weather through the summer can soon exhaust the oxygen available in the water. Topping up a pond or replacing a quantity of the water will help restore oxygen levels the easy way to maintain the correct balance, but more costly is investing in a pump to circulate and aerate the water.

Keep gardening, Richard Haigh EGRGA Communications