September is my favourite month.  The weather is usually fine, the sun still warm and the air crisp.  By now, whatever plans I had for my garden last spring have either been implemented, or put on the back burner for another year.  September is a great month to contemplate your gardening accomplishments and consider what you want to do next year.  This month, we've got lots of advice on how to do just that!

Elizabeth Cull, Dig This Franchise President

(Photo:  Fine Gardening)

Which kind of gardener are you? One who sees fall as a welcome end to gardening chores or one who tries every way you can think of to extend the gardening season? If you fall into the second group, you might want to consider adding a greenhouse to your garden this fall.

A greenhouse is a great way to extend your gardening season – it’s like moving a part of your garden into a whole new growing zone. Great for people with what Thomas Hobbs’ calls “Zonal Denial”!

Many people think that a greenhouse in our climate doesn’t make sense because we already have such a long growing season (especially if you, like me, have moved here from some other province east of BC). I know living in Ontario we always had lots of tomatoes ripen on the vines well before the first frost, but here we have to take them off the plants when they get the slightest yellow colouring or they start to rot or just fall off because of our cool night time temperatures. With a greenhouse you can start your plants much earlier, keep the evening temperatures more consistent and extend the season much later in the year.

Over-wintering tender plants is another great use of a greenhouse. Look around your garden. How many tender annuals and perennials could you move into the greenhouse for the winter? Doing this can be very cost effective, especially if you are used to buying a couple of flats of geraniums every spring, not to mention the spectacular show you get from a second year plant. You can start off with the size of plant you finished with the previous year and by the summer your garden will be overflowing with blooms.

Just dig up the plants you want to keep before the first frost, put them in a suitable container, and move into the greenhouse for the winter. A small electric heater to keep the temperature above freezing and a Maximum/Minimum thermometer that tells the highest and lowest temperatures are all that is required for over-wintering. Come next spring, you’ll be able to get a head start on creating new plants from root cuttings and seeds, which always do so much better in the greenhouse, as opposed to the furnace-dried air in a house.

Finally, don’t forget that a greenhouse can be therapeutic. There’s nothing like going out to the greenhouse on a dreary rainy day in the middle of winter to lift your spirits. Growing up in Ontario, we always had a greenhouse on the property. My father was a cacti collector. He had a commercial size greenhouse full of cacti, many planted right in the ground and growing about 15 feet and pushing up the plastic on the roof. It was always nice to go from the freezing blowing cold outside into the warm moist greenhouse to look at all the amazing tropical plants. Almost as good as a tropical vacation!

Peter Kamerman
Co-Owner, Dig This Nanaimo

Don’t just sit there dreaming about a greenhouse. September is the time to come into one of our stores and find a model to suit your garden and dreams. Later this year, all our greenhouses will increase in price by 10% due to an increase from our manufacturer. Buy any greenhouse before September 30th and save 10%. We’ll throw in a free auto-vent opener just to make the deal a little bit sweeter

The spring flowering bulbs – tulips, daffodils, crocuses, alliums, snowdrops, grape hyacinth, and many others – have arrived in our stores. From now until December you can plant bulbs to enjoy as early as next January and right through to June.

Come check out our selection. I especially like the combo packets which contain a mixture of bulbs designed to bloom at the same time in a complementary colour scheme.

While you’re looking over the bulb selection, pick up some bonemeal to put in the planting holes, and have a look at the various kinds of bulb planters that can make this job so much easier.

And don’t forget, bulbs are the perfect container plant. Fill a container with spring bulbs now, plant some winter pansies on the top, and you’ll have a gorgeous container from now until next May!

Growing vegetables on an apartment balcony is a great idea but at my apartment, which is on the ground level and shaded by nearby trees, it’s a real challenge. Inspired by an article in a gardening magazine, I built this great tiered garden that’s been providing me with great greens all summer.
It took me and my Dad (okay, to be honest, it was mostly my Dad!) a few weekends to build it, we used non-treated cedar and oiled it with boiled linseed oil. The total cost for the project was just over $150.

Since I wanted to grow organically I choose to plant right into the cedar boxes. The instructions suggested to line the boxes with plastic, but that seemed unnecessary to me. I filled the boxes with planter mix and mixed in some sea soil and some Harvest Farms Kelp Meal.  I fertilized the boxes every other week with liquid seaweed.

The top box has marigolds and baby romaine lettuce. I sowed one row a few weeks ago for fall harvest, while I've been eating from the established row for a couple of months. The middle planter has mesclun at the front and looseleaf lettuce behind. The bottom planter doesn't get quite as much light as I would like it to get, but I have tried sowing some more fall and winter greens in it.

I’ve been able to harvest at least 4 times a week and have had many yummy salads from it. For the amount of space it takes up I sure do get a lot of greens. This is the first time I've ever grown lettuces, mesclun and other greens and I have really enjoyed the zing it's added to our diet!

Although the planter can be folded up and stored for winter, I won't be doing that.  Instead I'm considering how I can make covers to extend the harvest!

Melissa McHenry, Dig This Oak Bay

Speaking of containers, just because it’s fall doesn’t mean you can't still have fabulous container plantings to see you through the season. This month’s issue of Fine Gardening has a great article on fall and winter containers – so good that rather than write our own, I’m suggesting you visit www.taunton.com/finegardening/  for their inspired planting suggestions.

One important concept stressed in the article is that designing a fall container requires different considerations than in other seasons. Because many plants in your garden will have died down and leaves fallen from deciduous trees, the “hardscape elements” of your garden, like walkways and railings will stand out more prominently in the landscape. The plants and the container, therefore, should closely match or complement the hardscape and your home.

There are other ways that fall and winter containers differ from summer containers. You don’t need to fertilize fall and winter containers. In fact, continued feeding might encourage new growth that can’t withstand plummeting temperatures. But keep watering your containers unless the soil freezes; roots need a drink until cold temperatures make them go dormant.

Make sure your containers can stand up to the elements. With last winter’s strange weather, many of us lost containers we’d had for years due to pots freezing after being saturated by the endless rains. Fiberglass and metal containers stand up well to frost, but high-fired glazed pottery will also survive in our relatively mild winters provided you don’t let the pots fill up with water and then freeze. Terra cotta pots are likely to flake, but you can seal them with a product designed for clay and concrete products to prolong their life.

One of the small joys of having a garden – or even a balcony with plants – is watching the birds that visit. I could spend hours watching these colourful, cheerful little critters at my bird feeder.

Over the summer, there’s been plenty of food for our feathered friends and plants left to go to seed will feed them into the fall. But if you want to keep the birds coming to your garden all year round, a feeder is a must.

There are a bewildering variety of birdfeeders on the market. Feeders can be as simple as a tray with seed in it, or very fancy with seating for a dozen or more. Your choice of feeders plays almost as big a role as your choice of food when it comes to what birds you'll attract.

Tubular Feeders. Many backyard bird watchers rely on tube feeders. Tubular feeders usually consist of a plastic tube, perhaps enclosed in a wire cage. A series of portals allows the seed to come out, and there are perches where the birds can land. Tubular feeders are easy to fill, they permit the birds to see the seeds easily and there is minimal spillage. When buying a tube feeder consider what seeds it can hold, how many birds can feed at once and if there is a good way to hang it or mount it on a post.

Hopper Feeders. A hopper feeder (looks like a little house) provides a storage system for seeds that automatically replenishes until the hopper is empty. A large amount of seed can be used, so the feeder doesn't need to be refilled so often. Plus the seed is protected from the elements until it is ready to be eaten. They also allow substantial spillage, which is a plus for ground feeders.

Window Feeders. A window feeder is just that; one that fastens to the outside of your windowpane and allows you to bring birds up close. Suction cups attach the feeder to the window, but be sure to place it where it is easy to reach for filling and cleaning.

Suet Feeders. Suet is an important part of any feeding program. It attracts a wide variety of birds all year. The simplest way to serve it is in plastic-coated wire cages that flip open on one end, and also are the right size for commercially prepared suet cakes. Hang them from a tree branch or beneath a seed feeder. Some suets should only be used as a winter food, because they can quickly turn rancid in warm weather, but other suets are formulated for year-round use.

Don’t Forget the Hummingbirds. While the migratory Rufous hummingbirds will soon be heading back to Mexico for their winter vacation, our lovely little green Anna’s hummingbirds are year-round Victoria residents. Don’t forget to keep your feeders full of nectar for them. As the weather gets colder, you can shift from the summer formula of 4 parts water to 1 part sugar to the winter formula of 3 parts water to 1 part sugar. Use only white sugar (not brown and never honey) and no food colouring.

It is always best to tidy up the garden in the fall, even in our mild climate. Besides, the weather is so lovely right now, it’s a joy to be outside.

Fall clean up is an effective deterrent to disease and a good way to control disease already in the garden. Diseases can over winter on dead leaves and debris and attack the new leaves as they emerge in the spring. Iris leaf spot, daylily leaf streak, and black spot on roses are examples of diseases that can be dramatically reduced if the dead leaves are cleared away each fall. However, don’t be obsessive. Leave some seedheads to sustain the birds and other garden wildlife throughout the winter.

Now is NOT the time to prune. Cutting back plant material in the fall or winter will promote a growth response. When this happens the plant wastes energy that it needs to maintain itself over the winter and the tender new growth is likely to be killed by any winter frosts. So trim back any leggy branches that might cause problems when the winter winds start blowing, but otherwise save your pruning chores till next spring or summer.

Mulch or compost your leaves. Sure you can rake your leaves to the curb side for the municipal leaf clean-up, but then you’d be wasting all that great leaf mulch. Composted leaves turn into leaf mould which is great for acid-loving plants like lily of the valley, lilies, magnolias, and rhodos. Pile leaves in an out-of-the-way place or create a leaf compost bin. Tough leaves like oak and arbutus can be cut down to size for fasting decomposing and quicker release of their nutrients by running your lawnmower over the leaves or running them through one of our great Leaf Mulchers.

Plant garlic from now until mid-October and continue planting spinach and radishes. Lettuce or mesclun mix can still be planted under cover.

Add plants for autumn interest. One of the best ways to add autumn colour is to pick up a plant in bloom now from Dig This or your local garden centre. Sedums, ornamental grasses, heleniums, perennial asters and Michaelmas daisies all add colour to the September garden.

Take cuttings to make more plants for next year.  Visit www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/propagation_summercuttings2.shtml for great tips on how to do this.

If you're like me, you've got a bumper crop of tomatoes this year.  Here's a great way to prepare them for use later in the year.

24 plum or Roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise. You can use other tomatoes but might need to cook them longer as they are not as meaty as Romas.
Sea salt
6 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons mixed herbs such as thyme, oregano, rosemary
1 clove garlic, minced

Arrange the tomato halves, cut side up, close together on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, herbs and garlic. Spoon or brush on this mixture over each tomato half, stirring as you go.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until tomatoes are soft and shriveled but still moist. Timing will depend on how meaty the tomatoes are. Cool completely. Pack in shallow plastic containers or zip lock bags and freeze. Only put in enough tomatoes for one or 2 servings. Great in casseroles, soups, and pizzas or on toasted bread with cheese.

Virginia Parkhurst, Owner, Dig This Broadmead

Over the last 6 months, you may have noticed some changes in our stores - a new logo, new colours, and a renewed commitment to the environment.

At Dig This, we've always supported environmentally sustainable gardening. We don't sell pesticides or chemicals. We stock organic seeds and fertilizers. We encourage composting, recycling, and environmentally friendly gardening practices. Whenever possible, we buy locally.

This summer, we said good-bye to plastic bags and have switched to recyclable paper ones. Plus, we’ve brought in a stylish, re-usable canvas bag that is designed and manufactured in Canada. Customers who have purchased them, love them, telling us the wide shoulder straps make them very comfortable to carry.

Another things to do this month is order your garden furniture for next season. If you're considering new garden seating or a replacement for that picnic table, why not order it now and save?

If you place your order before October 15th, we can guarantee you delivery either by March 1st or June 1st, with your choice of style, colour and fabrics - plus 20% savings off the regular price.

Next month look for articles on bulb forcing and rethinking your garden - making the garden work for you!

Here's hoping there's still a few days to sit in the sun with friends and family admiring the beauty of our gardens.

The Dig This Team