beans – Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

Pat’s 10 jobs for September 2025

1. Well at last the rain has arrived and is ready to drown all our plants! You may need to empty those saucers you put under pots for some of your more tender plants before they drown or rot…

2. This month and next is a good time to cut down and split many perennials ready for our sale at the Horn Fair on 19 October which soon comes round. I split sedum and Hesperantha the other day. I needed two forks back to back but made about fifteen plants! Check which plants are suitable for splitting in Autumn as some are better done in Spring.

3. Increase your supply of Pelargoniums by taking cuttings now below a leaf node. It also provides insurance for next year. We always love unusual varieties for the sales table if you can spare them.

This Aeonium will not like sitting in a saucer of water! — Don’t let your pots drown! Geranium clump ripe for division, and Pelargonium cuttings

A clump of Geranium macrorrhizum ready for division — Don’t let your pots drown! Geranium clump ripe for division, and Pelargonium cuttings

Pat’s 10 jobs for August 2025

1. Time to trim back lavender hard if it has finished flowering, but try not to cut into the old wood. If you’re lucky you may get a few late flowers.

2. And time to give that Wisteria and Campsis a hack back by removing all the whippy growth and tidying up for the autumn.

This lavender will need a cut back soon. — Promote flowers by cutting back and watering in good time.

Camellia flowering in Spring. — Promote flowers by cutting back and watering in good time.

3. Azaleas. Camellias and Rhododendrons are making their flowers for next year and need regular water at their roots or they’ll drop their buds and have no spring blooms.

Pat’s 10 jobs for June 2025

1. Plant out Dahlias in a sunny spot in fertile soil adding some compost to the planting hole. I have to surround mine with Strulch on my allotment to protect them from the hundreds of slugs and snails lurking all around.

2. Take softwood cuttings now of Anthemis, Salvia, Verbena, Penstemon and Fuchsia. Cut below a leaf node and dibble around the edge of a pot. Salvias will also grow fine roots in water to give them a head start.

3. Look out for hellebore seedlings around the base of your favourite plant. The resulting plants may not resemble the parent but they could be even better.

New Dahlia shoots (not yet eaten by molluscs)

Pat’s Jobs for October 2024

1. Watch out for Cabbage White caterpillar on your Nasturtium: at our allotments they appear to be the new delicacy which they are devastating and they look like the only butterflies that are thriving.

Cabbage white caterpillars on nasturtiums

2. Make sure to plant lots of butterfly-friendly plants next year like Sweet Rocket, Scabious, Honesty and others. The butterfly count showed that butterfly numbers are very much down this year and we desperately need them. Please ask me for Honesty seeds if you want some.

Asters for Butterflies — Scabious for butterflies and bees

Pat’s Jobs for September 2024

1. Start ordering your bulbs now as all the bulb catalogues are arriving – though prices don’t stop going up!

2. Start planting bulbs when they arrive but save your tulips until later as they are prone to virus and rotting, and to theft by squirrels.

3. Divide large established clumps of perennials by cutting back first, then splitting either by hand or with two forks back to back. Delay if soil is heavy or too wet.

Split established clumps of perennials — Order Spring Bulbs

4. Replace tired summer bedding in pots and replant for winter and replenish with fresh compost.

Pat’s Jobs for June

What a strange spring this has been as everything has grown so tall ….but then some things especially vegetables have hardly grown at all and are struggling as there has been little warmth.

Giant Foxglove - 8 foot tall — Giant Foxglove – 8 foot tall

Cephalaria a foot taller than usual — Giant Foxglove – 8 foot tall

Anyway we soldier on….

1. Divide spring flowering bulbs as soon as foliage fades. My own stock has diminished and badly need splitting.

2. Prune ornamental cherries when flowering has finished making as few cuts as possible as they have difficulty healing.

3. Tie in shoots on sweetpeas which are finally growing and revelling in the cool conditions.

4. Cut early flowering hardy geraniums to the ground when they finish as they have a tendency to seed everywhere…unless you want them to of course.

Pat’s Jobs for May

1. It’s a good time to take softwood cuttings of both tender and hardy perennials such as pelargoniums, anthemis and penstemons. Place in a shady spot until roots begin to form.

2. Put plant supports in place to stop things flopping and make them yourself from shrubby prunings or just push prunings in the soil around the plant.

3. I’ve Chelsea chopped my phlox today and also done a few clematis as they are far too tall and leggy after all the rain we’ve had.

Green with envy

This is a photo of an amazing arch support on one of the plots on my allotment site. It is covered in two varieties of beans and a range of squashes.

Vija