Thyme To Garden - September 2018

[AB Editor]

Hi all! Here is your September gardening thread.

The last one is here:
https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Home-and-Garden/Question1617508.html

How are your dahlias, Tilly?

[woofgang]

good morning. It looks like its going to be a stunning autumn here. Tons of flowers on the fuchsias and the wild cyclamen are the best I have ever seem them. Grape and sumach leaves are starting to change as well. My late sown peas are delicious.

[woofgang]

Spath, I have got one small bunch of very sharp black grapes but I bought the vine because tortoises are supposed to like the young leaves....mine sniffed at them and said take that rubbish away and bring back the chicory. Its lovely in autumn though.

[jennyjoan]

Hi Woof - I love peas - could you tell me how I could grow them in a pot. Thanks

[woofgang]

jj its easy. Get the biggest pot you can, fill it with earth and some kind of framework for the peas to grow up and plant them. They need a sunnt spot. Mine are in 40 litre pots and I have got about 12 pea plants in each pot. This year I have got Terrain which are delicious and suitable for succession sowing. last year I did sugarsnap which were okay but need harvesting young which is not so easy in terms of getting enough to serve at one time. I don't think you will ever get a massive harvest but they taste brilliant.

[jennyjoan]

Thanks for your answer Woof. I ate some home-made strawberries and I never tasted the like of them.

[woofgang]

I am lucky to have a sheltered garden, in a good year and with the right grape, you can get edible fruit without any shelter....I have not yet managed it, as i said mine are more for decoration than for crop

[rowanwitch]

Peas in a pot are really easy but they do need a good airflow or they can get mildew. I grow sugar snaps because normal ones rarely give enough at one time for more than a tiny portion.
My late purple prodded French beans have done really well. More next year for sure. Cabbages and kale are settling in well and the spinach looks promising. Still have loads of tomatoes and peppers to come and the rocket goes on forever. Cucumbers are nearly finished though. Already planning next year. I love my balcony I even have space for lovely red pelargoniums and orange calendulas.

[Tilly2]

My dahlias are still looking very sorry for themselves. As well as having holes in the leaves, the leaves have gone dusty and sick looking. They are still flowering though and the bees love them. I shall throw them away in the autumn.

[youngmafbog]

I've got loads of grapes off three vines which have been in for about 5 years now. Small but have been red for a few weeks now still a bit tart. Usually I use them for a coulis - the tartness then works in my favour. Staying on the fruit the rhubarb is in full swing too and had the last strawberry on Saturday.

On the veg front dug first parsnip out, not the 1Kg ones I will get later but enough for the two of us, the sprouts are also starting to form and I have a glut of beetroot. The lemon grass is now also startnig to thicken looks like it will be at least useable in soup. I have one large butternut squash (from a seed of one from the supermarket). Ruddy thing went wild though so ended up withloads of greenery to get rid of. Green beans were inedible this year.

Toms are nearing their end, still got a couple of iceburgs to go but cucumbers got destroyed in the heat and so very disappointing.

Flowers, the fuchsias, after nearly being destroyed in the late frost have recovered and flowering well, as are the dahlias, sweet Williams and antirrhinums. a nice display. Hanging baskets were a disappointment and now nearly dead.

What are people planting for the winter? I normally go for some winter pansies but I'd like to try something different if possible (we live in the South so a kind climate)

[rowanwitch]

Winter for me is all about frost on grasses and bare branches. I will be working on a friend's garden so sedges and festuca will be high on the list. Underplanting with primroses and bulbs near the house also in her woodland areas celandine and wood anemone.
I used to rotate spring bedding pansies, primulas, bellis and forget-me-nots for a year or two letting them self seed. So eventually you get a natural mix. I use mixed colour forget-me-nots rather than a blue type.

[Chipchopper]

I've got a lot of self-seeded evening primrose come up this year, as well as mullein, I just let em grow where they want.
I'm hoping the magpies leave me some damsons.

[rowanwitch]

Had a phone call from the Birmingham in bloom team wanting to double check the spelling of my surname. She said I would get a letter in the next day or so... I expect it will be a commended certificate or similar. Hey ho, better luck next year.