Cottage Garden

Fall garden tips

NOW’S THE TIME TO...

Here are garden tips for September: Clip hedges.With deciduous hedges timing is not so critical, but with evergreens such as taxus you only have a narrow window of opportunity to cut: any earlier than late August and re-growth will occur, any later than late September and the newly exposed garden tips will be prone to frost damage.

Lift and divide perennials in your cottage garden. If the conditions are right then September is best, so the plants have time to settle down. Once you have lifted the groups you can begin splitting. Sometimes it is possible to tear the clumps apart, but more often you will need to use two forks.

RESEEDING THE GRASS 

Next fall garden tip: reseeding the grass in areas of bare lawn, either due to heavy traffic or where the roots of trees have come to the surface, making mowing difficult, we use top dressing with grass seed spread onto the surface. We brush or rake this in to create a level and to ensure the seed is well mixed with the soil, and so that it doesn’t blow away or feed the birds. For a sward that is strong, drought resistant and tolerant of close mowing, use a blend of hard wearing dwarf rye grasses, smooth stalked meadow grass, browntop bent and Chewing’s fescue.