Horky's Weekly Gardening Tips

Horky’s Weekly Gardening Tips

September 2, 2011

1. Pak Choi or Chinese cabbage can be planted this week for use as a tasty vegetable in October and November. Pak Choi is easy to grow and ideal as a vegetable in stir fry’s or as a green vegetable. Plant it now.
2. Duke of York Christmas potatoes are now ready for planting – Simply plant five potato tubers into a potato planter using Supergrow compost and place in a sunny location out of doors or in a tunnel or greenhouse. By the end of November you potatoes are ready to harvest and store until Christmas.
3. Sweet Pea plants can be sown from seed in early September – Soak the seeds of sweet pea in tepid water over night and sow the following day into Supergrow compost indoors. The plants will be ready to plant out in early November
4. Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen can be planted now in patio planters and containers for a strong show of colour for the next couple of months.
5. Early September is a good time to tidy up Graves by removing summering bedding that is past its best and replanting with Autumn and winter colour. I recommend you plant Winter flowering pansies and violas, Cyclamen, Winter flowering heathers and the free flowering Polyanthus
6. Savoy cabbage plants can be planted now out of doors in the vegetable garden. Plant a dozen plants to ensure regular cutting from Later winter onwards.
7. Geraniums can be propagated from cuttings taken now from existing plants in your patio planters. Select six inch green stemmed cuttings, remove any flowers and all but two leaves at the tips. Leave to dry for one full day and then insert the cuttings into rooting powder and then into a gritty compost mix. Cover with a polythene bag and place indoors on your window sill until rooted
8. Virginia creeper is the beautiful red foliage climber you see at the moment covering house walls. Early September is the ideal time to plant Virginia creeper to cover bare and unsightly walls. Space the plants 1 metre apart and use Supergrow compost when planting.
9. Dead and damaged hedges should be removed this month and dumped. September is a great time to replant with new hedging plants. Look for the Hardy Laurel hedging to replant with and remember to use Supergrow compost when planting to ensure strong root growth.
10. September is a wonderful time to start a garden compost heap in your garden. Fallen leaves, grass clippings, shredded newspaper, soft weeds and clippings, egg shells, tea bags, coffee granules are just some of the suitable materials to add to your own compost heap. Remember to add a compost activator to help get the helpful bacteria going. Start now and you can look forward to super rich compost in early spring.

Join Paraic Horkan this Saturday morning on the Gardening programme on Midwest radio from 9am to 10am for Ask about autumn gardening.