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Jobs to do around the garden in September/October.



Autumn is all but here. 

 

With the nights drawing in and the temperatures dropping to single figures over night it definitely feels like Autumn is on its way.
But its not time to retire indoors just yet! There is still plenty to do in the garden.

In fact there are about a thousand and one jobs to do, most of which depends on your own garden and what you do with it.
Some items that will need your attention are going to be lawns, flowers, bulbs, greenhouses, vegetables the list goes on.

I'm going to concentrate on what we have here in our own garden.

 The Lawn.
Almost every house has a lawn! Or at least a patch of grass somewhere.
Now is a good time of year to pay some attention to your bit of grass, no matter how large or small it is.
You may not be too bothered about your bit of green, but some people like to keep it nice and manicured.
So a few things you can do to your lawn to improve it or keep it looking and performing tip top are

1: Using a hand fork or lawn aerator go over your lawn, then add either sharp sand or compost depending on your soil and brush it in well.

2: Repair damaged sections by either re-seeding or by laying new turf.

3: Scarify or rake the lawn vigorously in two directions to remove debris and open up the turf surface.

4: Apply an Autumn fertiliser, typically an Autumn fertiliser has less nitrogen in it. 

If you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse there are some jobs you could be doing.

If your using shading of any sort in your greenhouse, now is a good time to remove it.
We like to grow chilli plants, most of which have been sat nicely in the sunny months on our patio. Now with the cooler nights and unpredictable weather we have moved them back into the greenhouse. Some still have a lot of fruit on them so we will wait for them to ripen and then discard the plant. Some of the stronger looking plants we will try to over winter.
Any delicate plants you have outside could come in now. Whether its to a greenhouse a porch or conservatory or possibly into a window indoors.
Towards the end of the month (or a bit later here in SW France) you could think about a greenhouse heater of some description. If its a thermostatically controlled heater then set it to around 7ºc.


Another job I have just done is with the raised planter.
We have grown a variety of things in this during the year, from radish and lettuce to spring onions and beetroot.
I have just taken out the onions and laid them out to dry. So now this bed won't be used until next year.

All weeds have been removed, I have dug it all over and we are now going to cover it to prevent weeds from growing. 
We shall open it up early spring and put some well rotted compost on it ready for the growing season.

Enough activities to keep you busy in the garden, there are plenty more jobs that can be done but these are just a few that we do.

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