Rain may be falling again, but the summer left its mark. From theatrical wilters to empty water butts, September is the perfect time to learn a few lessons from the drought
After months of looking hopefully at every faint grey cloud, the rain has finally returned. Give us another fortnight and I expect we’ll all be complaining about the mud.
There is something reassuringly British about hearing rain against the windows again – but don’t be fooled by a few good downpours. Dorset has come through an exceptionally long, hot, dry summer and, as September begins, the hosepipe ban is still firmly in place.
Our gardens may look greener remarkably quickly, but beneath the surface the soil has a great deal of recovering to do.
September is therefore a good month to take stock.
Theatrical wilters
First, resist the temptation to repair a brown lawn by watering it. Grass is extraordinarily resilient, and established lawns will usually recover once regular rain returns. Do raise the mower blades slightly, leave it a little longer and let nature do the work. Bare patches can be raked and reseeded once the soil is properly damp and temperatures have cooled.
The borders deserve more attention. Cut back anything genuinely dead, but don’t be too enthusiastic with the secateurs. Seed heads from echinacea, teasel and sunflowers all provide food for birds, while hollow stems and untidy corners offer winter shelter for insects. I know there is enormous satisfaction in making everything neat for autumn, but wildlife generally prefers us to be slightly less efficient.
This is also the moment to look honestly at what survived.
Plants such as lavender, rosemary, thyme, sedum, geranium, nepeta, verbena and many salvias have coped remarkably well with the heat. If something has spent the entire summer wilting theatrically despite your best efforts, perhaps don’t automatically replace it with another one.
Autumn is one of the best planting seasons, particularly for shrubs, trees and hardy perennials. The soil is still warm but – in a normal year at least – increasingly moist. Plants put down roots through autumn and are better established before next summer arrives. Given the year we’ve just had, rather than trusting the first inch of damp soil I would wait until the ground has been thoroughly wetted before planting anything substantial.
Soil blankets
While you’re wandering around assessing the casualties, don’t forget to look upwards. Every shed, greenhouse, garage and house roof is collecting water that we may desperately want next July. If you have one water butt, could you connect a second? Is there a greenhouse downpipe doing nothing? Even a small shed can provide a useful supply.
Autumn and winter are our opportunity to bank rainfall while it is plentiful.
And the same principle applies underground. Adding compost, leaf mould and other organic matter improves the soil’s ability to hold moisture. Mulch beds once the ground is wet, rather than sealing dry soil beneath a blanket. You will give next year’s plants a considerably better start.
I suspect one legacy of this summer will be that we stop thinking about drought only when it happens. Our gardens have always changed with us, and perhaps the traditional English garden now needs to become one that can cope with both weeks of rain and weeks without it.
For now, though, I’m enjoying the sound of water running into the butts and the smell of wet earth.
Maybe ask me how I feel about the rain in November…
by MAGGIE FIELDS
