saving seed – Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society

Pat’s 10 jobs for September 2026

Pat's Dahlias — Get more *Dahlia* flowers by regular deadheading,
make comfrey tea plant food, and learn from Beth Chatto’s dry garden

Comfrey ready to make comfrey tea — Get more *Dahlia* flowers by regular deadheading,
make comfrey tea plant food, and learn from Beth Chatto’s dry garden

1. Keep cutting or dead heading your Dahlias to keep the flowers coming, hopefully into October. Give them a weekly feed too.

2. It’s not too late to make some comfrey tea to feed your plants and veg. Just cut up handfuls of leaves and leave in a bucket with some water and a weight to hold it down. Try to cover the bucket as the smell is very unpleasant, then dilute 1/10 in water and aim at the base of plants you are trying to keep going.

3. I think this year we need to carry out a review of very dry areas in our gardens and replant with drought tolerant plants. If you made the visit to Beth Chatto her dry garden is an excellent example. I have a bank at the back of my garden and half of it looks very sad or even dead so I’ll be replanting some of it in the spring if things don’t come through.

CABAHS Resolution for 2026

In addition to gathering members’ personal gardening resolutions for 2026, our January meeting also launched the Committee’s proposal for a CABAHS-wide resolution for the year, inspired by Plant Heritage’s search for ‘missing collectors’.

The best way to save plants is to cultivate and propagate them, then share them with others.

– Roy Lancaster

Seed Collection and Cuttings!

Resolutions for 2026

At our January meeting, members were asked to share – anonymously – their garden-related resolutions for the coming year. In addition, the CABAHS Committee put forward a suggestion for a CABAHS-wide resolution for 2026 (more on this in a separate post).

A fine, wise, and hopefully achievable range of planned actions were submitted, with members resolving to complete practical tasks that are easily put off or forgotten, right through to adjusting their attitudes / approaches to their gardens.

Some of the CABAHS members' resolutions for 2026

CABAHS Committee Members Resolution 2026: Seed Collection and Cuttings

Always a good start:

“I am going to actually go into my garden.”

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