Organic September - start organic gardening
The Soil Association's Organic September is not only a time to try organic food, but to start organic gardening, which will bring many benefits to your outside space and the wider community
Be inspired to embrace organic gardening this September, which in essence means peat-free, chemical-free growing - whether flowers and shrubs or fruit and veg. The team at Barnsdale Gardens, east of Leicester has tips to help you get started
Make the most of September in the garden and why not start by tidying up your wildflower area...while keeping it wildlife friendly.
If you have a perennial wildflower area, it'll probably have finished flowing by September, so choose a dry day (not hard in the drought-stricken UK) and cut down the area before raking off the tops.
Take summer bedding cuttings
Summer may be drawing to a close but there's still time to take softwood cuttings and get them rooted before colder weather arrives. Look for healthy shoots that aren't flowering. Try your hand at cuttings from petunia, fuchsia, verbena, sanvitalia and pelargonium.
Keep an eye out for tomato blight
If you spot blight on your tomato plants, remove infected leaves asap. Pick any healthy looking fruit and place them somewhere warm to ripen. But if blight has reached the plant stems then you'll have to dispose of the infected plant...ideally take it to the garden waste section of your local recycling centre.
Sow green manure
A simple way to give your soil some love while your garden take a winter break...green manures are a brilliant organic gardening tool as they're plants that cover bare soil over winter, provide plenty of green foliage and they can help fix nitrogen levels in soil. Then in spring you cut down the plants and dig them into the soil for healthier crops later in the year.
And should you be planning a visit to Barnsdale Gardens, here are some diary dates:
1st September Composting Workshop (£55 to include tea/coffee and entry into the gardens)
25th September Nursery Walk and Talk: Plants for an Autumn Lift. 11.30 to 11.50am. Free
For more on the Soil Association's Organic September
