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SEPTEMBER
GARDEN GROW? How does your U nlike summer months that blur together indefinably, September is simple to Anna Taylor, owner of Anna’s Flower Farm in Audley End, shares what’s going on in the garden this month Growing native shrubs and trees that thrive and support so many birds, insects and butterflies,
lichens and mosses. All that interweaves to support us, absorb carbon and create healthy soil. If you have your own space, this month plant out biennials – foxgloves, honesty and wallflowers – plant narcissus bulbs for spring pollinators and heady-scented cut flowers. Viola heartsease sown now will flower across the winter with their cheery little faces, even in the coldest spells. Sow broad beans, winter radish and rocket in gaps between planting or cleared crops. Prune back fruit bushes and trees straight after harvesting. Cut flowers as often as possible and collect seed for next year. September reminds us
recognise. It is my favourite month, and inspires me to gather souvenirs in a bid to capture its essence and bottle it. The first turning autumn leaves, shiny conkers more precious than jewels, bowers heavy with apples and plums, dew on dahlia flowers and a musty smell in the still warm air as the year begins to retreat. There are many opportunities for a new year when working outside. When there is a seed to sow in most months, all are rich with beginnings – but September feels the best of all. Not a destination, a start line or podium, even its position in the year is gentle. With the nights drawing in, plants are producing flowers on overdrive to ensure seed and their succession. I maintain that the
LOOK AROUND Stepping into autumn, now is a terrific time to feed the soil by collecting cuttings for compost
MAIN IMAGE © ANNA TAYLOR PORTRAIT © CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS
The September garden is the most reliably fulsome
to reject perfection in our gardens and hedgerows. They are all perfect when grown naturally. We can cultivate hope ourselves. It is a meditation on our lives, our relationship to the local, community and action. A small but essential contribution. Imagine if we all did this, how our futures might look? If you don’t have a garden, find your local community space – try Cambridge CoFarm, Dig It in Saffron Walden and St Ives Community Orchard or Flourish Farm near Linton – all places you can enjoy soil on your hands and much more than you will know. Anna runs Anna’s Flower Farm in Audley End, where she writes, consults and teaches how to grow and arrange flowers. Check out a new ‘grow your own’ course and flower- arranging classes this month.
that, like me, you have felt grief for our seasons and hopeless at news stories across the world. Even our hot, dry spring followed by cool, wet summer tells a story that there is little to be relied upon. But our gardens, they are a raft in stormy waters. In a world of abject daily horror, where fake news rules online, our outdoor spaces are true – and safe. It is where you can practise radical hope, fertile resistance and see the real-time impact of your choices and efforts. Every act in a garden is an opportunity to do good. It really is that effective. We all have that possibility within us, too. Imagine growing naturally, without any chemicals, rejecting peat extraction by making our own composts, saving seed, lifting and splitting plants, sharing those bounties.
September garden is the most reliably fulsome. While the soil is both damp and warm, seeds sown and plants planted now are given the best conditions to thrive. Direct sow hardy annuals for early cornflowers, larkspur, snapdragons and orlaya. In fact, they often thrive from the extended period of cold before germinating. There is no longer the burning pressure from earlier in the growing season where scarcity of time and energy creates undue toll on the gardener. No, here in September there is plenty of optimism to be had. An entire winter ahead – to rest, reset, review and rejuvenate. I look around and see so much material for the compost heap to feed the soil. Climate emergency has become climate boiling; soon a climate disaster. I am certain
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