Wondering what to plant as summer wanes? Don't put away those seed packets just yet! September offers the perfect conditions for establishing winter-hardy crops that will provide fresh harvests throughout the coldest months.
This episode explores the often-overlooked opportunities of September sowing, focusing on crops that thrive when planted now. While the list may be shorter than spring and summer guides, these strategic plantings deliver exceptional value. Discover which lettuce varieties withstand winter conditions, why you can sow more generously now than in summer months, and how oriental greens establish beautifully in cooling temperatures. We cover specific varieties like Arctic King, Winter Density, and Marvel of Four Seasons lettuce that are particularly suited to this transitional time.
Beyond salads, we explore herbs that establish quickly before winter's darkness slows growth, winter-hardy spring onions that provide continuous harvests, and how chard becomes a garden superstar during the colder months. For polytunnel and greenhouse growers, we reveal additional possibilities including early brassicas for spring harvests and autumn onion sets that will deliver your earliest allium crop next year.
The episode also addresses crucial seasonal maintenance as autumn rains return after summer drought. Learn why trees may be dropping leaves earlier than expected, how to prevent fruit rot in increasing humidity, and the importance of greenhouse cleanliness as insects seek winter shelter. We also emphasize the value of maintaining soil biology even in unused growing spaces to ensure a healthy start next spring.
As this marks our final sowing guide of the season, we're transitioning to a community perennial grow-along project in upcoming episodes. Join us as we demonstrate how easily you can grow beautiful perennial flowers from seed for next year's garden. Subscribe now, share your gardening journey with us on social media, and discover how September planting extends your growing season well into winter!
If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email: info@mastermygarden.com
Master My Garden Courses:
https://mastermygarden.com/courses/
Check out Master My Garden on the following channels
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/
Until next week
Happy gardening
John
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
How's it going, everybody, and welcome to
episode 291 of Master my Gardenpodcast.
Now this week we're looking atwhat to sow in the month of
September.
So this episode is going outthe last day or two of August
and, as we look ahead to themonth ahead of September, we're
looking at what we can sow inthe vegetable garden.
Now, this episode, or thissowing guide, is likely to be
(00:33):
the last one in terms of youknow, we're unlikely to do one
in October or November becausethe seed sowing has been
reducing, know, significantly,and this month it really really
tapers off and the opportunities, the list that we can sow, is
very, very small from here onand september, I guess, is a
(00:56):
month that often gets overlooked.
You know I've said that before.
It's it's a month where it'sgetting to the point where a lot
of people kind of write off theyear and just park it for for
now.
But there's huge opportunitiesagain, just, you know, along the
same lines as what we weresaying in august, there's huge
opportunities now to to sew andto keep utilizing your space.
(01:19):
So we'll get into the kind oflist of what we can sow in a
minute.
Now it is quite short, you knowit's going to be probably a
relatively short episode as such, because the list itself is
short.
There is valuable one, valuableseeds that we can be sown, and
valuable harvest that we couldhave later on down the line, but
the list is generally small.
(01:41):
Hence, as I say, this will bethe last one of these sowing
guides for this year, and wewill, of course.
I mentioned last week that wemight do a grow along on
perennials and that's lookinglikely.
A couple of people havemessaged saying that yeah,
they'd like that or that wouldbe interesting.
So I think we'll do that,because we've mentioned before
perennials.
You know it's the.
(02:03):
The month of september andoctober are superb months to sow
perennial seed and that willgive you, you know, basically
mean that you'll have fullyfledged perennial plants to go
into your borders next, you know, kind of next spring.
So huge opportunity to do thatand, yeah, like likely to do a
grow along.
In terms of the week that hasjust gone, huge harvest,
(02:29):
absolutely huge harvest still inthe gardens.
I think everybody's kind ofhaving, generally speaking,
bumper crops of most things.
Fruit, particularly this year,is really having a phenomenal
year, I guess.
You know we've had quite a bitof warm weather and reasonable
amounts of sunshine all summer,and so we're seeing the true
(02:49):
value of fruit.
We didn't have any late froststoo much either earlier in the
year, which can be a big factorin determining how the crops
fare out towards the end of theyear, and they were.
You know, late frosts werequite kind generally speaking
around the country and becauseof that then we do have, you
know, we are seeing very, verygood crops of, you know, of
(03:12):
apples, of, of pears, of plums,all the different berries,
raspberries and you know, allall the different fruits
essentially are deliveringreally, really good and that's
great to see Out from that.
You know, main crop potatoesI'm getting some messages from
listeners this week about maincrop potatoes sort of finishing
(03:35):
and the foliage naturally dyingoff, and that's probably a
combination of things happeningthere.
You know we've had this periodof dry weather and potatoes,
particularly if they weren'tgetting a good bit of water and
and I know people, some peopledo water but to to water
potatoes in the ground is goingto take a lot of water.
(03:56):
So generally speaking, theymight be getting a little bit to
keep them, to keep them going,but they're going to need a lot
of water in terms of bulking outthe potatoes and so the plant
itself sort of can reach its itsnatural end of cycle fairly
quick.
You know, if the weather hasbeen as dry for as long as as it
(04:17):
has, you're also seeing a lotof trees dropping leaves at the
moment, and again, that's youknow.
People are saying the autumn'scoming quickly and to a certain
extent it is, but a lot of theleaf drop that we're seeing at
the moment on things like treesis down to the lack of moisture
over a period of months.
And because there's been a lackof moisture over a period of
(04:40):
months, the you know the tree issacrificing up on top and it's
dropping some of these leavesand that's as a result of that
long, long dry period.
Trees, when they get that typeof challenge of dry weather over
a period of several years, youcan actually the tree itself can
(05:04):
become under pressure over acouple of years.
But a lot of people mentioningthat you know leaf drop is
happening and that is generallyas a result of the dry weather.
Now, certainly around here Idon't know what it's like where
you're listening, but certainlywhere I am.
Coincidentally, I live, youknow, about 10 miles away from
(05:25):
Electric Picnic picnic, which isa big festival which kicks off
this weekend and you knoweveryone's eagerly watching the
weather to know is it going tobe?
Is it going to be nice for the,for the concerts, for the, for
the festival, for the camping,particularly anyone in tents,
you know they, they're watchingthat.
But certainly in the last weekwe've had nice falls of rain and
(05:48):
there is quite a lot of rainexpected over the next couple of
days and over the weekend andinto next week.
So you know, for anyone with aneye on the electric picnic that
is, it's going to be a concern,especially if you're in one of
these little tents.
But anyway, here's hoping rainin the garden has been very,
(06:08):
very welcome, for for mostpeople there's, you know that
everything has been dry and as aresult of things being dry, you
know, certainly flowers andfruit have benefited hugely from
that because they've I don'tthink they've ever looked as
well.
But now that they're, now thatthe rain is coming back or some
level of rain is coming back,we're going to see rain, kind of
(06:29):
some level of rain, every dayfor the next week, according to
the weather, and that then sortof changes.
You know the the things that weshould and need to do in the
garden, and you know things likefruit I was mentioning the
likes of raspberries and so on.
As the rain comes, they can getmoldy quite quickly, so you
want to be getting them.
You know, as soon as they'rejust ready, get them off the
(06:53):
plants and don't allow them tosit in moisture at all.
Same goes for flowers and deadheadings and a lot of perennials
are absolutely at their peaknow and things like dahlias.
You know when you get a flowerthat's going over, especially
when you get rain, that rain canhold onto the flower that's
gone over.
It sort of falls over onto thenext flower and causes that one
(07:17):
to rot quicker.
So be deadheading as well onanything that you're looking to.
You know any beds or borders orhanging baskets or planters
that you're looking to keep.
You know any beds or borders orhanging baskets or planters
that you're looking to keeplooking well, for the next
number of months.
Make sure you're deadheading,especially during the wet
periods, because the need todeadhead increases when you have
(07:38):
moisture and the plants aresitting wet.
So very, very welcome on manyfronts, and it just means that
you kind of have to tweak a fewthings that you're doing.
So to get into the seed sowinglist, as I said, it's going to
be quite short.
We're predominantly looking at,you know, salad leaves and
salad crops at this time of theyear, and they can be, they're
(07:59):
hugely welcome when that harvestcomes, you know, deep into the
winter months to have fresh,fresh salads to be able to
harvest is is is really, reallywelcome.
But it's also things like herbsthat you know can be added to
all those hearty winter dishesthat we typically cook.
And then even, you know, withina polytunnel or a greenhouse,
you still have the ability togrow and to sow seeds that you
(08:22):
wouldn't otherwise be able to doso.
So let's get into the list.
So on the salad front first,it's a lot of, as I said, those
winter hardy salad crops.
You're looking at things likeglatonia lettuce.
Again, you're looking atpredominantly loose leaf lettuce
.
At this time of the year.
You're going to stay away fromthe really tight heads, the
(08:43):
iceberg type.
You're going to stay away fromthose and you're looking for
loose lettuce.
I suppose there's a fewvarieties that are kind of well
suited to that.
You're looking at things likeArctic King.
You're looking at WinterDensity.
There's Marvel of Four Seasons.
They're all winter, suitable,winter hardy varieties of
(09:06):
lettuce and can be soldperfectly now and again, as I
mentioned last month.
Don't be afraid to sow a littlebit more because than than you
usually would, because the thechances of any of these running
to seed it doesn't happenanywhere near as quickly as it
would say, you know, all throughthe summer months.
So in the summer months we'redoing little, and often because
(09:28):
we're you know, there's alwaysthe possibility of whatever
we're sewing running to seedquickly because of high
temperatures and whatnot.
So at this stage of the yearyou can actually sow a bit more.
The the growth is slower, thetemperatures don't reach reaches
high, with less sunlight, andthat's decreasing all the time.
So it gives us the ability toor for crops to hold way way
(09:49):
longer.
So you can sow a lot more thanyou would typically so at this
time of the year.
So lettuce then you're lookingat the kind of the oriental
style salad leaves, I guessthings like tatsoi, rocket,
mustard, corn, corn salad, anyof those, you kind of oriental
(10:13):
type vegetables you can sow.
They're all hardy, the likes ofrocket.
I don't sow I've mentionedbefore I have perennial rocket,
so I just keep harvesting thatall the time, a couple of times
a year it kind of pushes out ayellow flower.
You just keep cutting them offand then you get a flush new
growth.
So perennial rocket is you know, it's a brilliant one, um, but
(10:35):
for anyone's own annual rocket,ordinary rocket, it's perfect at
this time of the year.
So lots of it.
And mustard tatsai, all ofthose the same.
So oriental style salad leavesthey tend to be a little bit
spicier but they're a really,really nice addition to to any
of your salads or cooking atthis time of the year.
Uh, spring onions again, you'reswitching to your sort of winter
(10:57):
hardy ones.
So winter varieties, theJapanese bunching varieties
there's several of them outthere and you know even white
Lisbon, which is the main one.
You'll get a winter version ofwhite Lisbon and that's a
brilliant one to sow at thistime of the year.
And again, you can sow lots ofthem.
Them.
They're not going to run toseed, they'll hold pretty much,
(11:18):
you know, outside, or outsideunder cover, or even in a in a
greenhouse.
They're going to hold if youdon't harvest them, they're
going to stay, stay grown away.
They won't look to run to seedand you'll harvest them right
through until next spring.
So do sow lots of them at thisstage of the year and fill up
the space and use them over thecoming months.
Uh, chard is another one, again,a few plants that are going to
(11:40):
do you.
So if you have six plants,that's probably going to do you
all year again, you could be.
It can be used for salads, butgenerally better, you know, you
can use the stalks, um, inthings like stews and they can
be sauteed on a pan.
And chard is probably one ofthe, probably one of the most
underrated vegetables in thegarden.
(12:00):
I think, and it's certainly onethat you know that I like,
especially over that winterperiod.
Some of the herbs are stillgood to be sown because the
temperatures are still quitewarm.
You know, a lot of seeds arestill going to germinate.
It's just whether you canactually get them to, you know,
get them to, I suppose, maturityor get them to do anything at
this stage of the year.
(12:21):
You don't want them sittinglittle miserable things all over
the winter.
So it's whether you can get anysort of growth into them.
Basically, through the likes ofthe likes of the, the herbs
you're looking at coriander,chervil, dill, even parsnip can
(12:41):
be sowed at this time of theyear and you know they'll give
you some herbs for cooking, butalso herbs that you can add to
salads as well.
So that's definitely worthdoing.
You can also, if you can, ifyou can find them, you can sow
for growing on in the polytunnelor greenhouse.
You can sow again some of your,your brassica types, so
(13:05):
cauliflower, calabrese, you knowkale even.
You can grow them on in the inthe polytunnel at this time of
the year and you'll have aharvest then next spring off
those.
So they're worth doing as well.
Small sowings, beetroottypically you can't, but inside
polytunnel or greenhouse again,and potentially even some
(13:26):
carrots you might get.
As I say, with the temperaturesbeing warm at the moment, you
should get quick germination.
You should be able to get alittle bit of growth into them
before sort of the light levelsreally drop through the end of
October.
And if you can get that growthinto them now, then you will be
able to get a harvest on them.
And when you get that harvestcan depend on a couple of things
(13:49):
temperature and so on.
But you will definitely.
If you get germination and goodgrowth into the mobile the next
sort of six weeks, you willdefinitely, you will definitely
be able to, you know, get a goodharvest at some point in time.
And the other, the other thingthat you can do this month is
you can sow or plant your autumnonion sets.
(14:10):
So garlic will come later on innovember, but at the moment,
towards the end of the month,you can plant your onions and,
said again, these are going tobe, you know, the winter, winter
hardy varieties, so it's abrilliant, brilliant one to
plant at this stage of the year.
They're planted into the groundoutside and they will give you
or in the polytunnel so I'vedone it in the polytunnel as
(14:32):
well and they will give you thevery, very first crop of next
year, which typically is goingto be in May time.
So you'll get a full harvest ofonions in May and then you'll
get your subsequent harvestthrough June and July from your
other onion sets or your sowingsfrom next spring.
So really, really worthwhiledoing that.
And then, on top of that, thenknow that's kind of in terms of
(14:54):
planting, in terms of sowingseed.
That's kind of basically thelist.
As I say, it's quite short andwe will.
We will, of course, move on tothe, the perennial ones, next
week maybe or the week after andand hopefully look at a grow
along that everybody can getinvolved in and other jobs that
we can do at the moment.
So obviously, harvesting isstill really really you know
(15:17):
there's a lot to be harvested, alot of crops coming in and
there's pretty much everythingis is ready.
A lot of the beds are stillfull.
You'll be starting to comeunder pressure with tomato and
blight, especially if the raincomes and if the light levels go
down and you know we're gettingless sunlight.
(15:39):
You have to watch out forblight.
Keep those tomatoes, keep thoseleaves off of any signs of
blight.
Get them out of the out of thegreenhouse and keep on top of
all those things.
Keep watering and feeding.
Potentially you can get, youknow you're going to be able to
harvest right up until novemberon your tomatoes all going well.
But keep them fed, keep themwatered and and watch out for
(16:01):
for blight developing otherpests at this time of year.
Keep your tunnel as clean aspossible.
So if you have anything that'sstarting to go over, it's time
to be cleaning out your tunnel.
Keep it as clean as possible.
Get your husbandry rightbecause at this stage of the
year you will get insects thatwill be starting to look to move
inward and you potentially willstart to build up problems in
(16:26):
your greenhouse at this stage ofthe year.
So keep that clean as much aspossible.
If something's gone, get rid ofit and get it onto your compost
heap and then that keeps the,keeps the tunnel fresh.
Don't be afraid to keep andcontinue to sow and then you'll
have new stuff coming along.
But don't allow anything to liearound.
Sit around in your polytunnel.
The other thing that can happenwith polytunnels at this time of
(16:46):
year greenhouses this time ofyear is that people make their
harvest, they take out some oftheir crops and they forget
about it.
You know they don't water inthere and they don't.
You know.
Basically they do nothing inthere or in the ground for a
period of time.
You're better off to keepsomething in the ground and if
you're not, cover it down, mulchit down.
(17:06):
Make sure you water itoccasionally, because if that
soil completely dries out overthe next few months, then it's
any soil life that's there isgoing to get killed off and
you're kind of starting fromscratch in poor ground again
next spring.
So don't allow that to happen.
Get it mulched down, get it, youknow, get it watered, ensure
that you continue to feed thatsoil life and then next spring,
(17:29):
if you're, if you are decidingthat you're not, you know, going
to utilize it all over thewinter or you're not going to
utilize all your space over thewinter, then at least when you
go back into it next, nextspring, it's ready to go.
It's still healthy, the soil ishealthy, the still the soil
life is still, is still going,um, so yeah, they're kind of the
important jobs, as I say, it'shave to been, it's have to been
(17:51):
a really, really good year forgrowing, generally speaking.
And yeah, that's the seedsowing guide for September.
Definitely no need to do one inOctober.
I'll probably mention in someof the episodes, you know, a few
things that you can be doing,but there isn't enough seeds to
be sowing to have a, you know, astandalone episode on the seed
sowing guide for October.
(18:11):
So that's the last one of thesefor the year.
Episode on the seed sowingguide for october so that's the
last one of these for the year,albeit that we are going to do
the perennial grow along.
Still need to figure out howwe're going to execute that, I
suppose, but I'll let you knowon that in the coming days.
Loads of people.
I mentioned on the podcast afew weeks back that I'd love the
listeners to get in touchthrough instagram, through email
, whatever the case may be, andloads of people have got in
(18:33):
touch.
It's been really nice to hearfrom people and people that I
didn't know, you know, as I say,were that listen to the podcast
, that get benefit from thepodcast and, as I say, really
really nice to hear from, fromyou guys, to hear your gardening
stories, to hear how thepodcast is helping you in your
garden and, uh, yeah, if anyonehasn't hasn't uh, you know, got
(18:58):
in, got in contact, please do.
As I say, lovely to hear fromyou.
Also, a couple of people haveare supported and continue to
support on buy me a coffee.
That's, you know, really,really I'm really grateful for
that.
It's, uh, basically, it's justthe thing that you can.
You can buy a coffee to showyour support of the podcast and,
yeah, it keeps the keeps theshow on the road, as I said.
(19:18):
So, lots of listeners have havebought coffees over the over
the last couple of months andthat is greatly appreciated.
So that's been this week'sepisode.
I'll be back next week or theweek after with the, with the
grow along, and we'll keep youup to date on that.
I think that could be a goodone.
I think that'll be back nextweek or the week after with the
grow along and we'll keep you upto date on that.
I think that could be a goodone.
I think that'll be somethingthat people can you know can
(19:40):
sort of bring a bit of acommunity together.
We can see people's journeyfrom the sowing of the seed to
right through to the flowershopefully next summer and show
you how easy it is to do that,to create perennial plants just
by sowing a few seeds.
(20:00):
As I say, the mechanics of itI'll confirm over the next week,
but we'll probably drop a listof maybe sort of 10 or 15 really
really popular perennials thatmost people will enjoy or like
in their garden and theneverybody can choose.
You know three or four fromthat and we'll work from there.
I'll show you how to do thesowing, how to nurture them.
(20:24):
We'll do a couple of, you know,we'll do a couple of maybe
lives over that period of timeto show people how to tend to
them, how to look after them andthen how we can get them out
into the gardens next year andthen hopefully we'll see fully
fledged in flower perennialborders, all from a few packets
of seed, and I think that wouldbe a nice journey for you guys,
(20:46):
the listeners, to take.
So that's been this week'sepisode.
Thanks for listening and I'lltell you next time.
Happy gardening.
How's it going, everybody, and welcome to
episode 291 of Master my Gardenpodcast.
Now this week we're looking atwhat to sow in the month of
September.
So this episode is going outthe last day or two of August
and, as we look ahead to themonth ahead of September, we're
looking at what we can sow inthe vegetable garden.
Now, this episode, or thissowing guide, is likely to be
(00:33):
the last one in terms of youknow, we're unlikely to do one
in October or November becausethe seed sowing has been
reducing, know, significantly,and this month it really really
tapers off and the opportunities, the list that we can sow, is
very, very small from here onand september, I guess, is a
(00:56):
month that often gets overlooked.
You know I've said that before.
It's it's a month where it'sgetting to the point where a lot
of people kind of write off theyear and just park it for for
now.
But there's huge opportunitiesagain, just, you know, along the
same lines as what we weresaying in august, there's huge
opportunities now to to sew andto keep utilizing your space.
(01:19):
So we'll get into the kind oflist of what we can sow in a
minute.
Now it is quite short, you knowit's going to be probably a
relatively short episode as such, because the list itself is
short.
There is valuable one, valuableseeds that we can be sown, and
valuable harvest that we couldhave later on down the line, but
the list is generally small.
(01:41):
Hence, as I say, this will bethe last one of these sowing
guides for this year, and wewill, of course.
I mentioned last week that wemight do a grow along on
perennials and that's lookinglikely.
A couple of people havemessaged saying that yeah,
they'd like that or that wouldbe interesting.
So I think we'll do that,because we've mentioned before
perennials.
You know it's the.
(02:03):
The month of september andoctober are superb months to sow
perennial seed and that willgive you, you know, basically
mean that you'll have fullyfledged perennial plants to go
into your borders next, you know, kind of next spring.
So huge opportunity to do thatand, yeah, like likely to do a
grow along.
In terms of the week that hasjust gone, huge harvest,
(02:29):
absolutely huge harvest still inthe gardens.
I think everybody's kind ofhaving, generally speaking,
bumper crops of most things.
Fruit, particularly this year,is really having a phenomenal
year, I guess.
You know we've had quite a bitof warm weather and reasonable
amounts of sunshine all summer,and so we're seeing the true
(02:49):
value of fruit.
We didn't have any late froststoo much either earlier in the
year, which can be a big factorin determining how the crops
fare out towards the end of theyear, and they were.
You know, late frosts werequite kind generally speaking
around the country and becauseof that then we do have, you
know, we are seeing very, verygood crops of, you know, of
(03:12):
apples, of, of pears, of plums,all the different berries,
raspberries and you know, allall the different fruits
essentially are deliveringreally, really good and that's
great to see Out from that.
You know, main crop potatoesI'm getting some messages from
listeners this week about maincrop potatoes sort of finishing
(03:35):
and the foliage naturally dyingoff, and that's probably a
combination of things happeningthere.
You know we've had this periodof dry weather and potatoes,
particularly if they weren'tgetting a good bit of water and
and I know people, some peopledo water but to to water
potatoes in the ground is goingto take a lot of water.
(03:56):
So generally speaking, theymight be getting a little bit to
keep them, to keep them going,but they're going to need a lot
of water in terms of bulking outthe potatoes and so the plant
itself sort of can reach its itsnatural end of cycle fairly
quick.
You know, if the weather hasbeen as dry for as long as as it
(04:17):
has, you're also seeing a lotof trees dropping leaves at the
moment, and again, that's youknow.
People are saying the autumn'scoming quickly and to a certain
extent it is, but a lot of theleaf drop that we're seeing at
the moment on things like treesis down to the lack of moisture
over a period of months.
And because there's been a lackof moisture over a period of
(04:40):
months, the you know the tree issacrificing up on top and it's
dropping some of these leavesand that's as a result of that
long, long dry period.
Trees, when they get that typeof challenge of dry weather over
a period of several years, youcan actually the tree itself can
(05:04):
become under pressure over acouple of years.
But a lot of people mentioningthat you know leaf drop is
happening and that is generallyas a result of the dry weather.
Now, certainly around here Idon't know what it's like where
you're listening, but certainlywhere I am.
Coincidentally, I live, youknow, about 10 miles away from
(05:25):
Electric Picnic picnic, which isa big festival which kicks off
this weekend and you knoweveryone's eagerly watching the
weather to know is it going tobe?
Is it going to be nice for the,for the concerts, for the, for
the festival, for the camping,particularly anyone in tents,
you know they, they're watchingthat.
But certainly in the last weekwe've had nice falls of rain and
(05:48):
there is quite a lot of rainexpected over the next couple of
days and over the weekend andinto next week.
So you know, for anyone with aneye on the electric picnic that
is, it's going to be a concern,especially if you're in one of
these little tents.
But anyway, here's hoping rainin the garden has been very,
(06:08):
very welcome, for for mostpeople there's, you know that
everything has been dry and as aresult of things being dry, you
know, certainly flowers andfruit have benefited hugely from
that because they've I don'tthink they've ever looked as
well.
But now that they're, now thatthe rain is coming back or some
level of rain is coming back,we're going to see rain, kind of
(06:29):
some level of rain, every dayfor the next week, according to
the weather, and that then sortof changes.
You know the the things that weshould and need to do in the
garden, and you know things likefruit I was mentioning the
likes of raspberries and so on.
As the rain comes, they can getmoldy quite quickly, so you
want to be getting them.
You know, as soon as they'rejust ready, get them off the
(06:53):
plants and don't allow them tosit in moisture at all.
Same goes for flowers and deadheadings and a lot of perennials
are absolutely at their peaknow and things like dahlias.
You know when you get a flowerthat's going over, especially
when you get rain, that rain canhold onto the flower that's
gone over.
It sort of falls over onto thenext flower and causes that one
(07:17):
to rot quicker.
So be deadheading as well onanything that you're looking to.
You know any beds or borders orhanging baskets or planters
that you're looking to keep.
You know any beds or borders orhanging baskets or planters
that you're looking to keeplooking well, for the next
number of months.
Make sure you're deadheading,especially during the wet
periods, because the need todeadhead increases when you have
(07:38):
moisture and the plants aresitting wet.
So very, very welcome on manyfronts, and it just means that
you kind of have to tweak a fewthings that you're doing.
So to get into the seed sowinglist, as I said, it's going to
be quite short.
We're predominantly looking at,you know, salad leaves and
salad crops at this time of theyear, and they can be, they're
(07:59):
hugely welcome when that harvestcomes, you know, deep into the
winter months to have fresh,fresh salads to be able to
harvest is is is really, reallywelcome.
But it's also things like herbsthat you know can be added to
all those hearty winter dishesthat we typically cook.
And then even, you know, withina polytunnel or a greenhouse,
you still have the ability togrow and to sow seeds that you
(08:22):
wouldn't otherwise be able to doso.
So let's get into the list.
So on the salad front first,it's a lot of, as I said, those
winter hardy salad crops.
You're looking at things likeglatonia lettuce.
Again, you're looking atpredominantly loose leaf lettuce
.
At this time of the year.
You're going to stay away fromthe really tight heads, the
(08:43):
iceberg type.
You're going to stay away fromthose and you're looking for
loose lettuce.
I suppose there's a fewvarieties that are kind of well
suited to that.
You're looking at things likeArctic King.
You're looking at WinterDensity.
There's Marvel of Four Seasons.
They're all winter, suitable,winter hardy varieties of
(09:06):
lettuce and can be soldperfectly now and again, as I
mentioned last month.
Don't be afraid to sow a littlebit more because than than you
usually would, because the thechances of any of these running
to seed it doesn't happenanywhere near as quickly as it
would say, you know, all throughthe summer months.
So in the summer months we'redoing little, and often because
(09:28):
we're you know, there's alwaysthe possibility of whatever
we're sewing running to seedquickly because of high
temperatures and whatnot.
So at this stage of the yearyou can actually sow a bit more.
The the growth is slower, thetemperatures don't reach reaches
high, with less sunlight, andthat's decreasing all the time.
So it gives us the ability toor for crops to hold way way
(09:49):
longer.
So you can sow a lot more thanyou would typically so at this
time of the year.
So lettuce then you're lookingat the kind of the oriental
style salad leaves, I guessthings like tatsoi, rocket,
mustard, corn, corn salad, anyof those, you kind of oriental
(10:13):
type vegetables you can sow.
They're all hardy, the likes ofrocket.
I don't sow I've mentionedbefore I have perennial rocket,
so I just keep harvesting thatall the time, a couple of times
a year it kind of pushes out ayellow flower.
You just keep cutting them offand then you get a flush new
growth.
So perennial rocket is you know, it's a brilliant one, um, but
(10:35):
for anyone's own annual rocket,ordinary rocket, it's perfect at
this time of the year.
So lots of it.
And mustard tatsai, all ofthose the same.
So oriental style salad leavesthey tend to be a little bit
spicier but they're a really,really nice addition to to any
of your salads or cooking atthis time of the year.
Uh, spring onions again, you'reswitching to your sort of winter
(10:57):
hardy ones.
So winter varieties, theJapanese bunching varieties
there's several of them outthere and you know even white
Lisbon, which is the main one.
You'll get a winter version ofwhite Lisbon and that's a
brilliant one to sow at thistime of the year.
And again, you can sow lots ofthem.
Them.
They're not going to run toseed, they'll hold pretty much,
(11:18):
you know, outside, or outsideunder cover, or even in a in a
greenhouse.
They're going to hold if youdon't harvest them, they're
going to stay, stay grown away.
They won't look to run to seedand you'll harvest them right
through until next spring.
So do sow lots of them at thisstage of the year and fill up
the space and use them over thecoming months.
Uh, chard is another one, again,a few plants that are going to
(11:40):
do you.
So if you have six plants,that's probably going to do you
all year again, you could be.
It can be used for salads, butgenerally better, you know, you
can use the stalks, um, inthings like stews and they can
be sauteed on a pan.
And chard is probably one ofthe, probably one of the most
underrated vegetables in thegarden.
(12:00):
I think, and it's certainly onethat you know that I like,
especially over that winterperiod.
Some of the herbs are stillgood to be sown because the
temperatures are still quitewarm.
You know, a lot of seeds arestill going to germinate.
It's just whether you canactually get them to, you know,
get them to, I suppose, maturityor get them to do anything at
this stage of the year.
(12:21):
You don't want them sittinglittle miserable things all over
the winter.
So it's whether you can get anysort of growth into them.
Basically, through the likes ofthe likes of the, the herbs
you're looking at coriander,chervil, dill, even parsnip can
(12:41):
be sowed at this time of theyear and you know they'll give
you some herbs for cooking, butalso herbs that you can add to
salads as well.
So that's definitely worthdoing.
You can also, if you can, ifyou can find them, you can sow
for growing on in the polytunnelor greenhouse.
You can sow again some of your,your brassica types, so
(13:05):
cauliflower, calabrese, you knowkale even.
You can grow them on in the inthe polytunnel at this time of
the year and you'll have aharvest then next spring off
those.
So they're worth doing as well.
Small sowings, beetroottypically you can't, but inside
polytunnel or greenhouse again,and potentially even some
(13:26):
carrots you might get.
As I say, with the temperaturesbeing warm at the moment, you
should get quick germination.
You should be able to get alittle bit of growth into them
before sort of the light levelsreally drop through the end of
October.
And if you can get that growthinto them now, then you will be
able to get a harvest on them.
And when you get that harvestcan depend on a couple of things
(13:49):
temperature and so on.
But you will definitely.
If you get germination and goodgrowth into the mobile the next
sort of six weeks, you willdefinitely, you will definitely
be able to, you know, get a goodharvest at some point in time.
And the other, the other thingthat you can do this month is
you can sow or plant your autumnonion sets.
(14:10):
So garlic will come later on innovember, but at the moment,
towards the end of the month,you can plant your onions and,
said again, these are going tobe, you know, the winter, winter
hardy varieties, so it's abrilliant, brilliant one to
plant at this stage of the year.
They're planted into the groundoutside and they will give you
or in the polytunnel so I'vedone it in the polytunnel as
(14:32):
well and they will give you thevery, very first crop of next
year, which typically is goingto be in May time.
So you'll get a full harvest ofonions in May and then you'll
get your subsequent harvestthrough June and July from your
other onion sets or your sowingsfrom next spring.
So really, really worthwhiledoing that.
And then, on top of that, thenknow that's kind of in terms of
(14:54):
planting, in terms of sowingseed.
That's kind of basically thelist.
As I say, it's quite short andwe will.
We will, of course, move on tothe, the perennial ones, next
week maybe or the week after andand hopefully look at a grow
along that everybody can getinvolved in and other jobs that
we can do at the moment.
So obviously, harvesting isstill really really you know
(15:17):
there's a lot to be harvested, alot of crops coming in and
there's pretty much everythingis is ready.
A lot of the beds are stillfull.
You'll be starting to comeunder pressure with tomato and
blight, especially if the raincomes and if the light levels go
down and you know we're gettingless sunlight.
(15:39):
You have to watch out forblight.
Keep those tomatoes, keep thoseleaves off of any signs of
blight.
Get them out of the out of thegreenhouse and keep on top of
all those things.
Keep watering and feeding.
Potentially you can get, youknow you're going to be able to
harvest right up until novemberon your tomatoes all going well.
But keep them fed, keep themwatered and and watch out for
(16:01):
for blight developing otherpests at this time of year.
Keep your tunnel as clean aspossible.
So if you have anything that'sstarting to go over, it's time
to be cleaning out your tunnel.
Keep it as clean as possible.
Get your husbandry rightbecause at this stage of the
year you will get insects thatwill be starting to look to move
inward and you potentially willstart to build up problems in
(16:26):
your greenhouse at this stage ofthe year.
So keep that clean as much aspossible.
If something's gone, get rid ofit and get it onto your compost
heap and then that keeps the,keeps the tunnel fresh.
Don't be afraid to keep andcontinue to sow and then you'll
have new stuff coming along.
But don't allow anything to liearound.
Sit around in your polytunnel.
The other thing that can happenwith polytunnels at this time of
(16:46):
year greenhouses this time ofyear is that people make their
harvest, they take out some oftheir crops and they forget
about it.
You know they don't water inthere and they don't.
You know.
Basically they do nothing inthere or in the ground for a
period of time.
You're better off to keepsomething in the ground and if
you're not, cover it down, mulchit down.
(17:06):
Make sure you water itoccasionally, because if that
soil completely dries out overthe next few months, then it's
any soil life that's there isgoing to get killed off and
you're kind of starting fromscratch in poor ground again
next spring.
So don't allow that to happen.
Get it mulched down, get it, youknow, get it watered, ensure
that you continue to feed thatsoil life and then next spring,
(17:29):
if you're, if you are decidingthat you're not, you know, going
to utilize it all over thewinter or you're not going to
utilize all your space over thewinter, then at least when you
go back into it next, nextspring, it's ready to go.
It's still healthy, the soil ishealthy, the still the soil
life is still, is still going,um, so yeah, they're kind of the
important jobs, as I say, it'shave to been, it's have to been
(17:51):
a really, really good year forgrowing, generally speaking.
And yeah, that's the seedsowing guide for September.
Definitely no need to do one inOctober.
I'll probably mention in someof the episodes, you know, a few
things that you can be doing,but there isn't enough seeds to
be sowing to have a, you know, astandalone episode on the seed
sowing guide for October.
(18:11):
So that's the last one of thesefor the year.
Episode on the seed sowingguide for october so that's the
last one of these for the year,albeit that we are going to do
the perennial grow along.
Still need to figure out howwe're going to execute that, I
suppose, but I'll let you knowon that in the coming days.
Loads of people.
I mentioned on the podcast afew weeks back that I'd love the
listeners to get in touchthrough instagram, through email
, whatever the case may be, andloads of people have got in
(18:33):
touch.
It's been really nice to hearfrom people and people that I
didn't know, you know, as I say,were that listen to the podcast
, that get benefit from thepodcast and, as I say, really
really nice to hear from, fromyou guys, to hear your gardening
stories, to hear how thepodcast is helping you in your
garden and, uh, yeah, if anyonehasn't hasn't uh, you know, got
(18:58):
in, got in contact, please do.
As I say, lovely to hear fromyou.
Also, a couple of people haveare supported and continue to
support on buy me a coffee.
That's, you know, really,really I'm really grateful for
that.
It's, uh, basically, it's justthe thing that you can.
You can buy a coffee to showyour support of the podcast and,
yeah, it keeps the keeps theshow on the road, as I said.
(19:18):
So, lots of listeners have havebought coffees over the over
the last couple of months andthat is greatly appreciated.
So that's been this week'sepisode.
I'll be back next week or theweek after with the, with the
grow along, and we'll keep youup to date on that.
I think that could be a goodone.
I think that'll be back nextweek or the week after with the
grow along and we'll keep you upto date on that.
I think that could be a goodone.
I think that'll be somethingthat people can you know can
(19:40):
sort of bring a bit of acommunity together.
We can see people's journeyfrom the sowing of the seed to
right through to the flowershopefully next summer and show
you how easy it is to do that,to create perennial plants just
by sowing a few seeds.
(20:00):
As I say, the mechanics of itI'll confirm over the next week,
but we'll probably drop a listof maybe sort of 10 or 15 really
really popular perennials thatmost people will enjoy or like
in their garden and theneverybody can choose.
You know three or four fromthat and we'll work from there.
I'll show you how to do thesowing, how to nurture them.
(20:24):
We'll do a couple of, you know,we'll do a couple of maybe
lives over that period of timeto show people how to tend to
them, how to look after them andthen how we can get them out
into the gardens next year andthen hopefully we'll see fully
fledged in flower perennialborders, all from a few packets
of seed, and I think that wouldbe a nice journey for you guys,
(20:46):
the listeners, to take.
So that's been this week'sepisode.
Thanks for listening and I'lltell you next time.
Happy gardening.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com