After the holidays, back to the garden!

Getting back home after the summer holidays makes September a special month. Adults get back to work and children prepare their supplies for school. But in the autumn garden, there’s quite a lot to do, too!

You’ve been able to savor summer in the garden after the tedious work performed in spring. Perhaps you feel you’ve done so much that you would like a rest this coming September? Well, sorry to hint otherwise – your garden break will have to wait a short while longer! September is indeed one of the most important months for whoever owns a lawn, flowers, shrubs, fruit trees or a vegetable patch. They all call for special attention!

Fall vegetables

In the vegetable patch, take advantage of this time to harvest the last summer vegetables and collect the first ripe fall ones. It’s also the time to weed, to thin your rows of vegetables and transplant seedlings to provide for a couple more vegetables before the onset of winter.

If you really need a rest and want to relax, make the best of these mild, agreeable days and open up your tunnel greenhouses and cold frames if you’ve got any. Break up and loosen the soil in them to prepare the soil for the following spring season.

Fruit trees

Again, more harvesting with your fruit trees… Grapes, plums, apples, pears are like taking bites of sweet, warm sun and make autumn taste delicious.

The harvest season depends on where you live and how sunny the summer was.

If you’ve planted black and red currant bushes, September is ideal to prune them. Especially, remove branches that are tangled together to give your plants some air.

Trimming the hedge and setting up a new lawn

Pruning is another major chore in this get-back-to-work season. Not only will you need to prune the shrubs that bloom in summer, you’ll also have to trim all your hedges before winter comes along. In autumn, you don’t have to check whether hedge-trimming regulations allow it or not, since birds aren’t nesting anymore.

September is also the time to reflect on the future… Think about what you would like your spring garden to look like, and you can start preparing it immediately, a bit at a time. So if you’re aiming to have a new lush, bright green lawn, now is the time to sow. If not, simply de-thatch the existing one to renew its vigor. This task aims to remove moss and matted grass clippings that tend to accumulate over the years, suffocating the lawn grass and even replacing it entirely.

• Read also: Pruning hedges: timing and method

Flower care and maintenance

Flowers, too, require care in September. Perennial that have lost their flowers must be cut short, and it’s also a great time to plant new ones. For other plants, remove wilted flowers regularly.

Lastly, those who have become experts in preparing cuttings can scratch that itch and start snipping away! This is the best season of all. Simply collect a portion of your favored plant and place it soil or water for it to sprout roots.