September Gardening Tips

Lawns

Autumn is a fantastic time to make your new lawn by turfing of seeding. Turfing will give you an instant result, seeding will save you money (with a few weeks wait to see the fruits of your labour). Preparation is the key when it comes to a new lawn. Remove any existing lawn or weed growth, rotovate, (you can hire a rotovator from your local hire shop), this will bring up the nice fertile soil from below. Add some fresh top soil if required and level the earth. Add a sprinkle of pre-turf fertiliser if you’re turfing and proceed to lay your fresh green turf. Once this is done, you’ll be the envy of your neighbours. If you’re sowing a new lawn with seed, you may need to peg down some plastic netting to stop birds or squirrels attempting to steel your seed.

Rake up any leaves as they fall on your lawn as they hide sunshine and will cause the grass to yellow if left for a long period of time.

Now is also the time to purchase a selective weed killer for your lawn. A ‘Weed n Feed’ product applied now will kill off any broadleaf weeds you may have, and give your lawn the vital nutrients it needs in preparation for the English winter. Do not use these products on any newly laid lawns. You will have to pick out any weeds as they appear manually.


Planting

It’s a perfect time to plant any trees, shrubs or climbers. Use plenty of compost and water in thoroughly. Make sure they are watered regularly after this if there is no rain in sight. Pop along to your local gardening centre to find a bargain as old stock is shifted to make way for new season’s stock. Moving any established plants is also best done in autumn.


Bulbs

With the exception of Tulips, spring bulbs can be planted in the garden from now until the end of the month. Tulips can be planted October-November. Plant your bulbs at approximately twice their own depth. By doing this easy task, you will be rewarded next spring with a beautiful and inexpensive floral display.