September brings a noticeable shift in the garden. Mornings are crisp and heavy with dew, afternoons grow longer in shadow, and the pace of the garden slows slightly. With the growing season still in full swing, our focus turns from constant weeding and grass cutting to hedge trimming and cutting back perennials.
The birds have finished nesting, and our beech hedges have put on plenty of growth, making this the perfect moment for a neat cut. We’ve harvested all the lavender we need and are now pruning back spent flower stalks. Lemon thyme, cotton lavender, mints, and winter savoury will also be trimmed before the first frost. Plants that are still flowering like these sunflowers and echinacea are left for as long as possible, giving pollinators their share of the nectar.
Harvesting continues at full pace. We are busy gathering elderberries, lemon verbena, black violet flowers, and black hollyhock petals, while the grape harvest is just around the corner — one of the most exciting times in the garden. Fruit trees are heavy with produce this year, yielding a plentiful crop of apples, pears, and grapes. The grapes will be used for our next award-winning Pinot Noir Gin and Vermouth Rosso and we are giving away plums, apples and pears from our Shop.
September is also an ideal time for taking cuttings, and we’ll be propagating lavender, lemon verbena, and hyssop to ensure the next season’s growth.
As the garden transitions from summer into autumn, each task - from trimming hedges to collecting herbs and fruit - is all about preparing for winter.
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