Hello!
Now September is with us keep picking and preserving (freeze, bottle, jam, etc.) all the delicious products you grew during the year. As the plants go over, dig up and burn any infected ones, the rest go into the compost bin. Keep making layers of grass and vegetable/fruit matter, a nice sandwich with, if you like, a booster such as 6 X or blood fish and bone. With this wet “summer”, keep the heap covered to heat up the pile and accelerate composting.
The flower garden just needs picking of flowers and dead heading, all rubbish goes into the compost as above. The autumn bulbs will be in the shops soon, I have seen Tulips in the garden centre already. You can replant any that were a bit off this year and plant up containers for indoor display, especially the early indoor daffs.
Ponds need to have all dead and dying water-lilly flower heads and leaves taken out regularly (for compost) and thin out any other water plants so that dead foliage does not rot on the bottom of the pond. As trees and bushes de-foliate, scoop as many as possible off the water, or even place a leaf catching net over the pond if it is not too large.
With Xmas looming, now is the time to plant potatoes for the main meal of the year. They can be planted outdoors, but it is easier to use containers or bags, loads of hints on the www. The tubers are just beginning to appear in shops or on-line.
Why not have a go at planting overwintering onions, garlic, broad beans and peas and even lettuce, such as Arctic King and the like (grows very well). Use all the ground available as much as possible. To keep a steady supple of parsley, nip out to the supermarket and buy a pot of growing plants, break into 4/5 pieces and plant out keeping one in the pot indoors or the greenhouse.
More than enough to be getting on with!
Bye for now,
Greenish Fingers.