Charlotte's Garden

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Monthly Garden Tips

September

Azaleas and Camellias

They're still setting buds, so continue watering.
Watch camellias for scale insects,and spray as needed.

Birds

Time to start feeding the birds, those that stay for the winter are establishing their food sources. For a variety of birds, offer a variety of seeds with feeders at differing heights.

Bulbs

Buy bulbs as soon as they appear in stores. That way you can be pickier about which ones you buy. Store them in a cool, dry place until planting time.
Bulbs you can plant now are: Madonna lily, crocus, lycoris, colchicum, and hardy cyclamen.
Fertilize tulips.

Flowers

Continue to water and fertilize potted plants.

• Annuals
  Cut annuals back when they get scraggly looking and leggy. That will encourage new growth and blooms, and make them look neater.
  Root cuttings of coleus, geraniums, impatiens, begonias, and fushias. Take 3-inch cuttings, strip off the lower leaves and any flowers. Dip them in rooting hormone, and insert in pots containing rooting medium. Keep moist until roots form.
  Plant pansies, sweet alyssum, calendula, candytuft, sweet peas, and snapdragons.


• Perennials
  Stop fertilizing perennials, so they can rest through the winter.
  You can begin dividing and replanting clumps of daylilies, perennial salvia, perennial phlox, hollyhocks, Iris, Shasta daisies and primroses.
  Check for seedlings of columbine, hollyhocks, Lenten roses and wall flowers.
  Plant candytuft, Shasta daisies, pinks, hostas, and primroses, and mums.


• Biennials
  Plant Canterbury Bells, foxglove, and sweet Williams.

Herbs

It's time to start drying herbs, such as basil, summer savory, sage, tarragon, and oregano. Tie them in bundles and hang them upside down in a well ventilated place.
Chives can be frozen. Just cut a bundle of foliage, wash, snip into pieces, and freeze in a plastic container.
You can grow a few herbs inside, in a sunny window. Take divisions of thyme, oregano, and mint. Plant them in pots. Let them grow outside until frost is expected, then bring them indoors.

Houseplants

If your houseplants have been spending the summer outside, start getting them ready to go back inside as frost approaches. Check the pots for damage, and for hitchhikers, such as lizards, frogs, and bugs. Repot those that have outgrown their pots.
A shaded porch provides a good transition location.

Lawns

Now is a good time to plant fescue, perennial ryegrass, and bluegrass, in most areas. Keep well watered until established.
If you're feeding a newly seeded lawn, use a lower nitrogen, higher phosphorus fertilizer such as 18-24-10, but if your lawn is already established, use a higher nitrogen formula.

Roses

Feed roses for the last time this season. Continue spraying. Keep watered and deadheaded. A little grooming now can result in more blooms for the rest of the season.
Rake litter out of the bed, fertilize and water in.

Trees and Shrubs

Clip hedges for the last time this season. They'll have time to put out some new leaves before winter stops their growth. Prune later and you'll have brown stems to look at all winter.
Time to get ready to plant trees and shrubs, in most areas.
You can take semi-hardwood cuttings of forsythia, elaeagnus, sasanqua camellia and other shrubs to root before frost.

Vegetables

Give summer vegetables one more feeding with a 5-10-10 fertilizer.
In the Middle and Lower South you can sow turnips, mustard greens, beets, radishes, collards, and spinach. You can set out transplants of cabbage, lettuce, collard, kale, and broccoli.
Watch vegetables, started last month, for insects. Start fertilizing cabbages when they are about 4 inches tall. Mulch to keep free of weeds.