Gardeners’ World – September 2024

A month of little rain, high temperatures and strong winds, a combination leading to many plants dying without flowering properly, especially if you have heavy clay soil. The phlox in my garden came into flower and quickly died back, so no alternative but to cut them down ready for winter, most disappointing. I visited Harlow Car RHS Garden at Harrogate last week; their borders are wonderful, but they are watering constantly.

Annuals grown in containers for the summer do need feeding and watering regularly. If you deadhead them, almost a daily job, they will keep flowering for several weeks yet. Petunias especially have done well this year and there are some very good begonias in containers around the village which have withstood our strange summer weather.

Most varieties of lavender have finished flowering and need to be cut back to prevent them from becoming too straggly. Don’t cut back into the old wood, leave some green shoots as they don’t always regrow if cut too hard. Help any tomatoes to ripen by taking off the bottom leaves.  Keep working upwards until there are hardly any leaves left; this also prevent new shoots forming as it is too late now for new fruit.