Time to sow seeds

September and October are good seed-sowing months, mainly to get ahead with the summer flowers for next year. There are some good veg-growing options, too.

Over the past few months, I’ve abandoned the potting shed because plants behind its glass get so hot on summer days. But now it’s time to get back in there, clear it out and wash pots and seed trays, then set it up for the winter. I also use it as a studio for when I’m filming Youtube videos, as it gets too cold and miserable to film outside from about October onwards.

So it’s time to sweep away spiders’ webs, throw out last year’s capillary matting and buy at least one new bag of seed compost. I also find it’s a good time to round up various tools that I’ve left in useful places such as near the back door of the house.

As light levels are dropping, give your potting sheds and greenhouse glass a thorough clean.

While I wouldn’t call myself an organic gardener, I prefer to find sustainable ways of gardening, so I’ve been using a peat-free seed compost called Biochar by Carbon Gold (www.carbongold.com), which is approved for organic gardening.

It retains moisture so that you have to do less watering – very helpful if you sometimes go away for a few days at a time – and it also has a wonderfully moist, spongy texture.

The main advantage of sowing flowers in September and October is that they have a head start come the spring. I’ve found that sweet peas, cornflowers, scabious, ammi, euphorbia and marigolds are all good sown in September.

On the veg front, next year’s broad beans will come up earlier, and you can still sow some of the all-year-round lettuces and perpetual spinach for harvesting over the winter.