Gardening expert Monty Don has shared his essential September gardening tasks on his blog, urging gardeners to prune shrub roses and summer-fruiting raspberries, and to ripen tomatoes for harvest. He also recommends planting spring bulbs, spinach, and garlic this month for early flowering and maximum effect.
Don suggests planting crocus and smaller daffodil varieties like 'tete a tete', as well as reticulate irises, muscari, and scillas in pots. He advises using an attractive, not-too-deep pot, mixing compost with grit to prevent waterlogging, and placing pots in a sheltered position until they start growing.
Spinach, described as 'very hardy', can be sown this month for young leaves in autumn and a crop lasting until late spring. Don recommends raking the ground to a level tilth, drawing rills an inch deep and nine to 12 inches apart, and sowing seeds thinly an inch apart. They should germinate in seven to 10 days.
For garlic, Don recommends hardneck varieties like 'Red Duke', 'Rocambole', or 'Early Purple Wight', which are tastier but slower to grow. Plant individual cloves an inch below the surface, pointed end up, six inches apart in well-drained soil. Shoots should appear within six to eight weeks.
