Gardening Jobs for September

0:00There was a moment then where Kate lost her microphone. It was things can only go up from here. I'm Kate. I'm Andy. And this is the Growing Up Podcast. Thank you for joining us. Hello everyone. I found my microphone guys. She did, she found a microphone. You'll be relieved to know. Although I should say this is actually going out a day like. Yes. Not because Kate lost her microphone. No. Because we've been really busy with work stuff. We might record a podcast actually maybe next week just talking about what that is. Because it's a big deal for us. We run a business together. And it's the end of our really busy season. So apologies for being here. Thank you for your patience with that. Anyway, where are my manners? Welcome back to the Growing Up Podcast. I'm Andy. And I'm Kate. We did that very nicely. And today you'll be relieved to know that we're talking about September. I actually think he's one of the most underrated months in the gardening year.

1:00Definitely. I think because I think September actually gets treated as though gardening is basically over, you know? Yeah, 100%. Like August finishes. Kids go back to school. Normally the weather goes really good as soon as the kids go back, isn't it? Oh, yeah. But having said that, actually, it suddenly start disappearing. We don't notice it, but it's getting dark and there isn't it. And I think mentally everyone packs the garden away. Even though actually September can be absolutely beautiful as we have talked about many, many times. Honestly, it's such a beautiful month. But it can also be incredibly productive. It's not just about being beautiful. The soil still warm. There's usually more moisture around. Definitely a minute. Which is quite good after the dry summer. Yeah, I'm fine with that. But the weed starts slowing down and there are loads of things that you can plant so harvest and prepare. And it's also the month where you start seeing the garden a little bit differently.

2:00And we touched on this a few weeks ago, I think. 100%. The perception shift is real. And September is almost the beginning of the next gardening year, rather than the end of this one. Yeah. And that's what we're going to talk about today, because there are some jobs. In fact, there's a lot of jobs that you can do that will make a surprisingly big difference during the next spring. Plus, some jobs that you absolutely don't need to do. Which might even be more important. Yeah. I think because gardeners are actually very good at inventing work for themselves. I mean, I think I'm... Yeah. We both are. Yeah, we both know that. So make yourself a cup of tea. Head out into the garden if you're listening with your headphones on. And let's go through the gardening jobs worth doing this September. So the first job is don't give up on your garden. I think this first job is very psychological, isn't it? Yeah. And it's a very dramatic first gardening job, but it is very important.

3:04You know exactly what I mean. Yeah. I mean, there's a strange point around the end of August where people decide that the garden is finished. I mean, the hanging baskets start to look tired. Your courgettes have all become narrowed? Yeah. And there's one tomato plant that appears to have taken over the greenhouse. I can attest to that. And suddenly people think, right, that's the gardening year done. Until next March. And there can be easily another six or eight weeks of really productive growing weather believe me. Absolutely. Especially now that some of us seem to be stretching a little bit later as well. But it's that misconception, isn't it? Anyway, we'll get into this. I think one of the biggest mistakes that you can make is clearing everything away too early. If you've got tomato still producing, leave them producing. If you've got courgettes, beans, chilies, peppers, herbs, keep harvesting them. And regular harvesting actually encourages many plants to continue producing. And September can actually give you some really lovely warm days which we tend to forget

4:05once we start to head into it. A hundred percent. And you get those beautiful summer, you know, almost like summer afternoons in September. You feel like someone has come back. Yeah. I mean, the difference is that the night to get in cooler, which you have quite like actually. And that's what plants beginning to respond to. So don't rip everything out. So it seems like a restrained first job. Yeah. The first job is don't rip everything out. Don't rip everything out because the calendar says September. So another job that I was going to touch on is actually a really nice job in my opinion. And that is eating things. Oh, no, this sounds like something we can do. Yeah. In fact, it's my specially subject. Well, this is it. And I think actually this year we've been doing it a lot more as well, which is really nice. One of our objectives, wasn't it? If you're anything like us, you've potentially got tomatoes, courgettes, beans, cucumbers, chilies, peppers, potatoes, beetroot, what have I missed?

5:09Carrots. Apples. Lots of apples, raspberries, onions. And obviously herbs. My apologies. Obviously. If you're listening to this podcast for the very first time, that's an inside joke because we were in a business growing and selling herbs. And actually September is a really good month to start thinking about preserving herbs. Because if you've got a big established plan or indeed several, this might be approaching your last opportunity to take a really substantial harvest before the growth slows down. So what would you do with them? Well, it depends on the herb. Who's like rosemary, thyme, oregano and sage are brilliant for drawing. Mint can be dried for tea. You can freeze the herbs, you can make herb butters, you can make pesto, you can preserve things in all sorts of different ways. And this is something I'm really getting into at the minute. Because I really like the idea of taking some of the abundance of September and carrying it into winter. And I think that's something that we've kind of heard from a lot of listeners and a lot

6:10of customers that that's one of the most satisfying things about growing food, isn't it? 100%. And there's something lovely about cooking it in December, you know, pulling out something that you grew yourself months earlier. If you've got potatoes coming out of your ears at the moment, turn them into sauce. Did I say... Did I say... Did I just say, potato? Don't, don't, don't turn your potatoes. Yeah, make a nice potato sauce, yeah. Is that a thing at Christmas? No, well, did you... No, do you mean mashed potatoes? He's a bit tired. If you've got potatoes... Tomorrow. You know what, we're going to leave this in because this just shows what running a horticultural business does to you. If you've got... Can I have some flaws after this? Go on. Tomatoes. Oh, well done. Coming out of your ears.

7:10Turn them into sauce. Yes, what an idea. I've got the giggles. You freeze them as well. Make chutney. Mm-hmm. Roast them. Yep. And roast potatoes as well. There's no need for that. I think the bottom line is, I don't know if you're going to stop talking in a minute, you can do the rest of this episode. But I think basically don't let all that work that you've done since spring. Kind of just waste. Yeah. I remember how excited you were in spring when you're waiting for your smarter plants. Mm-hmm. And I've experienced tomato overwhelm at times. Yeah. So if that's you, I do relate. So I'm kind of going to say what a lot of people say at this time of year, I think. So presumably it's too late to sew anything now. Is it Andy?

8:12Absolutely not. And this is really the third kind of thing we wanted to talk about, which is kind of what you can still sew in September. And this is a particular interest to me because it's really, really hard to explain. But for a long part of the gardening season, you know, I associate growing things with work. Yep. Yep. And we're very soon going to be finished with work. And I want to sew things. Yeah. You're going to get your own personal project is going. So, you know, you asked the question then a lot of people are asking, I think this is a gardening myth that I really want people to get away from. September is a sewing month. I will shout it as loud as I. You just need to sew the right things. And what kind of things would you suggest? Well, it depends on what you eat, but you can easily sew salad leaves. Mm-hmm. So things like rocket, Mizuna, mustard leaves, winter lettuce, spinach. They're brilliant actually because they don't need huge amounts of heat. So, yeah. You know, if you've got a greenhouse, a polytonal or a cold frame, you could potentially

9:14keep some of those crops going all the way into the winter. So I was actually harvesting from a little raised bed covers. Mm-hmm. We've got these little DIY greenhouses that we put across the raised beds. Oh, they look lovely. And thank you. I can't have worried they look a bit like some of you have the Martian. And that's a bad thing. Great film. It is ugly. I'd survive on loss. And I was going to bring up sort of, again, what a lot of people are asking at this time of year in terms of growing outside, because it's a big concern for a lot of people, I think. So what would you suggest for outside, no? Well, again, I'm really glad that you confronted up and said that because that's what everyone's quietly thinking. Early September, especially when you've got warm soil, you can absolutely grow stuff outside. Yeah. That's the thing that people forget that the reason why spring, you can struggle for germination is because the soil is freezing cold. Mm-hmm.

10:14In September, you've had months of summer warming the ground. So seeds can germinate surprisingly quick. So you could grow, for example, things like radishes? Yeah, 100%. I mean, radishes are brilliant and they're really tasty, but they grow quickly. So you can also sow things where as you can actually sow things now that aren't necessarily about harvesting this autumn. Yeah. You know, radishes, you'll be having them in a few weeks. But there's so many crops that you can sow now and look a little bit further ahead. So we're already thinking about next year is what you're saying. Honestly, you've got to think forward. And this is the big September mindset shift. Yeah. So you're not thinking about what's going to happen in the next four weeks. You're going to be harvesting radishes in like four or five weeks. But start thinking about March, April, May. What would you like your garden to look like then?

11:15Because the work for that starts now. Absolutely. Yeah. And that kind of brings us on to the fourth thing that we wanted to talk about, doesn't it? And that is planting herbs now. This is even 100% doing September. There's certain inevitability, isn't it? We made it remarkably far without mentioning herbs too much. But September is actually really useful month planting the hardy perennial herbs. Again, because the soil is warm. Exactly. People often assume that spring is automatically the best planting time for everything. But autumn planting has a huge advantage. The soil's warm. The air is becoming cooler. But there's usually more rainfall. Yeah. So instead of a newly planted herb sitting in baking sunshine, while you're desperately trying to keep it watered during late spring, at this time of year, it can actually concentrate on establishing roots. Yeah, absolutely. So for anybody that is kind of new to this, what herbs are we talking about?

12:18Which so? Yeah, things like thyme, sage, oregano, chives, many hardy mint. Yeah. Rosemary can be planted now. So for many of the herbs that I've just mentioned, I would actually pay more attention to drainage. Yeah, absolutely. Rather than the cold. You know, the important word here is hardy. Because on social media, I get a lot of comments from people saying, what are you talking about? You can't plant basil now, how stupid are you? That would be optimistic. But the key word here is hardy. Yeah. And if this is your first time with us, what we mean by hardy is whether or not you're going to tolerate the cold. So many of these herbs will tolerate the cold. But they'll struggle with the wet. I should say that, you know, essentially, the reason why I'm suggesting this is that hardy perennial herbs that are planted now can start establishing before winter.

13:18Yeah. And, you know, next spring, instead of you starting with tiny little newly planted herbs, you've actually got something sitting there planted established ready to go. And drainage becomes particularly important over winter as well. We should just mention. We should make this clear, especially with Mediterranean herbs. Yes. People often think that the wind to kill those because it's cold. Yeah. Very often it's the combination of cold and wet. Yeah. At time and rosemary, especially, don't want to stick with their roots in freezing water look soil. So if you've got heavy clay, improve the drainage or consider raised beds or contaminants in the tiny areas. Yep. And that brings us to the next point that we were going to make. So September is also really good time for dividing some established perennial plants. Yeah. And, you know, I wish that you know gardeners will do stuff they say, now is the time to divide plants. And you're like, oh, yeah. What if I rephrase that and said, now is the time to get loads of free plants?

14:21Exactly that. Yeah. You've got the way that phrase is in garden, you actually free plants, nothing except for it. Essentially, if you've got mature clumps of suitable herbaceous perennials that have become congested, autumn can be a great time to lift and divide them. Yeah. You literally just dig the clump up, separate it into small sections and replant those sections. And suddenly one plant becomes three or four. Exactly. And you can fill gaps elsewhere in the garden, give some to friends, swap plants with neighbors. But the important thing says it's not just about free plants, you're actually rejuvenating the kind of mother plant as well. Yes, absolutely. And something that a lot of customers ask and listeners, what could you actually divide like, can you divide everything? Absolutely not. Yeah. That's bad news. But this is where gardening advice, I think, sometimes becomes a bit dangerous because somebody hears divide perennials in autumn and starts attacking everything with a spade.

15:23Yeah, check the particular plant first. For suitable herbaceous perennials, it's a really useful September job. Yeah. And also make sure you water the divisions well afterwards because there's another sort of gardening myth, isn't it? September can be a nice warm month. Yeah. So the next one that I was going to talk about is the great September top. We've been doing that this morning. Yeah, funnily enough, we were talking about this this morning, weren't we? So can we talk a little bit about tidying, Andy? We can. We're going to argue about it. I knew we would. I think we've been taught to make gardens for hard to tidy in autumn and this is going to be a surprise coming from me. And I do agree with that to an extent. So long term listeners will understand that I like the beauty of straight line gardening. Yes. I'm not suggesting that you create a mess.

16:24But traditionally September and October gardening advice was essentially cut everything down, remove everything that's dead, break everything up and leave the ground looking like a municipal car park. Or you know, that horrible phrase, a low maintenance garden. Yeah. Which is perhaps slightly unfair. Very slightly though, I think, because you know, how now we understand how important those supposedly messy bits of the garden can be. I'll just give you a few examples. So seed heads, if you leave those spent seed heads, just on the plant instead of cutting it down, that can feed the birds. Hollow stems can provide overwintering for insects. For leaves can shelter various wildlife. Yeah. And vegetation can provide cover. So we're definitely not saying don't tidy anything. Yeah, exactly. I mean, this isn't an excuse to completely abandon the garden.

17:24Yeah. And long term listeners will know that I'm absolutely not a fan of wildlife gardening. When it's just an excuse for leaving your garden as a mess. Yeah. Yeah, there's a balance. You know, if you've got disease, material, remove it, if you've got plants collapsing across a path, deal with them. If you've got visual plants that are completely finished, clear them. Yeah. But you don't have to like sterilize the garden, scorched earth. Exactly that. I think it's kind of selective tidying, but... 100%. Yeah. And ask yourself, does this actually need removing? And if the answer is no, maybe leave it to spring. Mm-hmm. So we're going to start seeing leaves falling soon as well. Yeah. And this is a gardening off September that we really wanted to stress. Yeah. And it leads on quite nicely from what we were just talking about. Yeah. Leaves are not rubbish. That's right. Yeah. Leaves as they start to fall are one of the best free resources that your garden produces. Although perhaps not when they're covering the lawn, that we do understand that.

18:25Yeah. And on a practical level, thick layer sitting on lawns can actually cause problems. Yeah. Paths, obviously, need to be kept safe. Don't automatically put every fall and leave into the green way it's been. Mm-hmm. You know, if you're looking to have a free collection of your green way it's been. Yeah. You know, where we live, you do get charged for a green bin though. So there's actually a cost to doing that. Yeah. And the benefit, the side drop cost, the benefit of collecting them is you can make leaf mold. Mm-hmm. You can use leaves as a mulch. Yeah. And you can actually let some just naturally collect it collect together beneath hedges and in wildlife friendly areas. And leaf mold is incredibly easy to do as well. It's offensively easy. Offensively easy. Yeah. Put leaves into a simple arcade or a suit or back, keep them moist, give them time and nature basically does the rest. Mm-hmm. Eventually you're going to get this beautiful crumbly material. And you're creating from, you know, something that people, as I just said, you know, they

19:27pay accounts, walls to take away. Yeah. Well, gardening is full of things like that I find too. Yeah. It really is people buy compost in spring. But then they throw away the compost ingredients in the autumn. Exactly. It's kind of right now is the point where you can actually start getting all of that stuff together most definitely. Now we mentioned lawns a minute ago. So this was going to be the next point we were going to talk about. September is quite an important lawn month. It really is. We don't actually, we don't really have a proper lawn at the minute, can we? No. It's just saying something big fan. Yeah. Although we're not going to have that debate here. But, you know, if you do have a lawn, I would imagine that given how the years gone, your lawn nights have had a terrible time by September. This year they've been baked and then they've been walked over. They might have had a paddling pool sitting on them for months.

20:29Furniture. If you've got dogs, children, barbecues, six months of real sort of heavy going. And September basically gives you grass a chance to recover. It's incredible, isn't it? How the grass has gone from being straw to being green in just a few weeks of rain. And you've got the warmth in the soil. You've got, you know, hopefully it carries on really. Being moisture, which makes it a really good time to repair patchies and so grass seed. And you can scarify it as well if necessary. Yeah. And I would just say don't automatically scarify your lawn within an inch of its life. Just because someone on YouTube told you that September being scarifying or maybe you list to a podcast. Give you a list of garbage. You know, look at your lawn first. If there's a significant problem deal with it. If there isn't congratulations, he just saved yourself a horrible, scarifying job.

21:31And speaking of horrible jobs, mowing as well. Oh, I see. Quite like mowing. Yeah, it's your thinking time, isn't it? I love it. And I would say keep mowing while the grass is growing. But as the growth begins to slow, gradually raise the mowing height. So you don't kind of scalp it. Yeah. I slightly longer lawn going to call the weather can cope better. Something that's been shaved down to the soil. Yeah. I think it's time for a quick break, don't you? Yeah, let's do it. The growing up podcast is proudly sponsored by First Tunnels, the most amazing supplier of polytonals here in the UK. We're big fans of First Tunnels, aren't we? Very much so. And for a very long time. I myself and Kate run a business on a commercial level growing and selling herbs. And I often joke and say I've had a relationship with First Tunnels polytonals longer than I've had a relationship with Kate. The first tunnel we brought from them was a very, very long time ago. It's still standing. The reason for that.

22:31It's industry quality. Yeah. It's heavy duty. It's not one of those flyaway greenhouses. If you get a polytonal, you put it up this autumn. I promise you you will not regret it. It's a game changer. The winter arrives later. Spring arrives earlier. And it's also a great place to sit with a coffee and read the paper. Hit the link in our description and check out First Tunnels today. Now the next thing we want to talk about is compost. Yeah. I've been looking forward to this. Because September is also an amazing month for compost. Because suddenly you've got loads of material from Fully enough we were talking about. And you know you've got finished vegetable plants, garden clippings, grass, fallen leaves, kitchen scraps. Yep. And this is where you can really build compost. But the key is balance. So you want to build a compost sandwich with your greener, wetter, nitrogen rich materials. This is grass clippings, fresh plant material, vegetable scraps.

23:33Mixed with browner, drier, carbon rich materials such as shredded cardboard and dry leaves. Rather than what a lot of people have to contend with which is just one enormous lump of grass. Yeah. And this is something that I did years ago, you know, that if you create a compost heap consisting entirely of wet grass clippings, you haven't made compost, you've made a swamp. A really unfortunate swamp that smells really bad as well. Honestly, if you've ever made a grass cutting, you've put your spade into it, it smells with a... Yeah, it's disgusting. So mix it, put some air into it, chop up the larger material. We're practical because the smaller pieces generally break down faster. September's a great time to think of a garden as a cycle. So material comes out of the beds, goes into the compost, decomposes, and eventually goes back onto the beds. And that's how gardens should work, I think. Yeah. And this is what we talked about before in terms of a previous episode where the more that

24:34your garden is able to feed itself, the more it's actually tailored towards your particular space and that is just amazing. 100%. Yeah. Now, I have another job that is actually one of my favourites and again, it's a gardener's favourite because it's a free gardening job. We like saving seeds. 100% and September's seed saving season. There's something wonderfully addictive about this. It should come with a warning, I think. Once you start collecting seeds, you begin seeing plants completely differently, I think. Instead of looking at a dead flower head and thinking, well, that needs cutting off, why did I do an orthodox and then? Apologies, that was not deliberate. You start thinking there could be 50 plants in what you're cutting down. Yes, absolutely. And I think it's quite nice to actually cover at this point, just for anybody who's kind of new to this and wants 50 new plants, which would be really cool. What kind of things can people collect when they're looking to do seed collecting in

25:37September? Well, loads of flowers and suitable, open pollinated vegetables and herbs. Yeah. But do a little research on the individual plants because the hybrids weren't necessarily come true from seed. The basic principle is to collect mature seeds on a dry day, make sure it's properly dry, label it clearly and store it somewhere cool and dry. Oh, God, and label is such an important thing to do. Seriously, please, please label it. Please label it because we've done that. And also, you remember what it is today. Yeah. But you'll look at the packet in February and think, obviously I'll remember that. You won't. I promise you. I'm sorry, I promise you, you won't. I won't. I do this for a living and I won't. You will end up with 17 envelopes containing tiny brown objects and absolutely no idea what any of them are. It's mystery gardening, which I quite enjoy. Yeah, you'd find that fun.

26:37But it probably shouldn't be the entire vegetable garden. Now I'm going to touch on one of my favourite things to do in September. Oh, here we go. So September is when spring bulbs start appearing everywhere too. Yes. And it's so exciting. And this is one of those jobs where future you will be incredibly grateful to present you. I'm just time and stuff up here. But Daffodil's crocuses are all yours. And lots of other spring flying bulbs can actually start getting going during autumn. Yeah. So you can plant them during autumn. Two lips are often better planted a little later just to reduce or increase their success basically. Yeah. They're growth. And bulbs are probably one of the easiest ways to make a garden look impressive in spring. And that's what I love about them that they're that first flush out. They have flowers and things.

27:39Definitely. And I love it because you're basically burying future flowers. You know, you've put this fairly unimpressive brown object into the ground. And then you forget about it. And I'm not joking. I'm almost a bit emotional because I know how much I will appreciate seeing it next spring because one miserable February or March morning when everything's going wrong. You will walk outside and there's a crocus flowering. Yeah. And it's magic. Yeah. And if you've got a lawn naturalizing bulbs can look fantastic. If you've got containers layer bulbs, the bulb is on you. Bulb lasagna. If you've got gaps in borders, fill them. I promise you you will never stand in your garden next March and say, I really wish I've planted fewer Daffodils. I know I never would, but somebody might. Well, they're wrong. And we really want to touch on, we're running out of time here, by the way. We want to touch on free manures and empty beds.

28:40Yeah. So let's talk about the empty vegetable beds because if you're anything like me, your vegetable beds will be empty. This is another place where people often think that season has ended. You know, you pull out your beans or potatoes or courgettes and you're left with their soil. Yeah. So what should you do with it, Andy? Well, you're pleased to know you've got choices. You can plant another crop, you can mulch it. Yeah. Or depending on timing and conditions, you can sow a suitable green manure. Mm. And essentially, a green manure, the principle is that instead of leaving the soil bare, you grow a crop that will benefit the soil. Yes. And that's kind of its primary objective. You're not growing something that you're necessarily going to eat. Absolutely not. Depending on what you sow, it can protect the soil, suppress weeds and organic material and potentially provide the soil benefit. But choose carefully because different green manure is suit different situations and some need managing before they become a nuisance themselves.

29:43Yeah, absolutely. I think the broader point is, you know, try not to think of the soil as an inert brown substance. Mm. It's a living system and leaving soil bare for months isn't always the best option. Absolutely. And that brings me to a little thing that we just want to cover briefly. So what about if plants are starting to look unhealthy now? Yeah. And September is a really useful month in that regard. Yeah. What went wrong this year and sort of write it down. And this sounds ridiculous, but honestly take photos, make notes. Yeah. Because in February, you will have forgotten. Yeah. You know, if your tomatoes got blight, if your courgettes are covered in milky, if one section of the garden is struggle because it's too dry, if something got in by slugs every night, record it now. And that's the thing that we say to a lot of people when they ask, it's how you improve every year because you're able to get those little pinch points. Yeah, it's always about improving.

30:43And a gardening is essentially one enormous experiment. Nobody has exactly the same garden as you. Your soil's different, your light level's different, your microclimate's different. Yeah. So one of the most useful things that you can do is become an expert on your own little patch of planet earth. And September is kind of when you've got all the evidence in front of you, the post-mortem of the season can happen. And just talking about, we're talking about composting a minute ago. So presumably diseased plant material needs to have a little bit of thought around it before it goes into the compost heap. Yeah, home composting is brilliant, but don't blindly throw everything into it. If you've got seriously diseased plant material or persistent perennial weeds, think carefully about how you're disposing of them. Absolutely. Domestic composting may not reach temperatures sufficient to reliably destroy every pathogen or weed seed. You can do hot composting where you deliberately get the compost warm.

31:45I was shocked. You were going to put my hand in the inside. I remember that. We have a video and everything. We can't release it. It's said in naughty words. I actually burned my hand. So yeah, be selective about what you put on the compost. It's one of those occasions when knowing what you're dealing with kind of matters. Yeah. So you're not creating next year's problem essentially. Exactly. You don't want to lovingly manufacture compost for 12 months and then discover you've created effectively a highly optimized distribution system for something you were trying to get brittle. So very briefly, I'm going to touch on this because you don't want to talk about it too much. I think we're going to have to say the F word now. Do you think we really should? I mean, people might be quite upset. Yeah, quietly. Frost. There we go. Depending on where you live, your first frost could be some way off. Yeah, of course. September is the time to start thinking about tender plants.

32:47So not panicking, just planning. And it's funny, isn't it? Because so much conversation that we have around September, certainly for our customers, is frost, frost, frost, snow, cold. Yeah, which is understandable. But you know, it's quite a way off. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're going to start thinking what plants do need protection, which containers might need moving. And just starting to consider, have you got somewhere frost free for tender plants? And to be honest, that's where the sponsor of our podcast comes in. Yeah. If you actually don't have somewhere frost free, if you tend to plant, hit the link, have a look at first tunnels because you can get yourself a small polytunnel. Absolutely. It's nice, isn't it? Because sometimes sponsors of podcasts is commercial arrangement. But for us, we, it's just part of our life. Yeah. First tunnels polytunnel. Genuinely tell people about it. So just ask yourself, do you have a first tunnels polytunnel? I'm at that to earth level. Do you have fleets? Yeah. If you've got a polytunnel greenhouse, is it ready?

33:47Because we always say with a lot of people that it's the worst time to work all of this out on the evening, the forecast suddenly says that it's going to be minus two. That is not when you want to be rustling around trying to get everything ready. It's seriously, and it happens to so many people. Yeah. That's when you're outside at 10 o'clock carrying an enormous pot through the kitchen. And we've all done it. Yeah. Think about it. 10 the herbs, so just basil, obviously aren't going to enjoy frost. Lemon of a been, for example, can need protection in colder areas, clean containers, some 10 the, like, salvia, pallagonium, other plants might need similar planning. But this is really important. Please don't drag every hardy plant indoors. Oh, yeah, that is so important. You know, plants that are genuinely hardy do not need to live in your kitchen for five months. And sometimes, I desire to protect the plants actually gives them worse conditions than

34:48what you've got, kind of like poor circulation. Now we've run spectacularly over time here. There's so much to cover. There is. I really hope that you've enjoyed that little introduction to gardening jobs for September. If you would like kind of more information about this, even though our kind of professional urban herbs season is coming to an end for us, the work on a car is on because we're both doing a lot of work on our own kind of social media as well. The podcast obviously continues. So do you want to shout out your Instagram just in case anyone's not following you? Yep, absolutely. So follow me at Kate likes flowers on Instagram. And please, if you're not already, please follow me at Andy Groes food. And you're posting loads of autumn food growing content. Really, really important. I just want to say thank you so much for listening to us. Over the last week, there's been quite a few messages from people sort of saying they're

35:51really enjoyed the history of time episode. I did. We really enjoy doing this podcast. I'll let you on a little secret. It's a labour of lovers doing this. And if we didn't have you with us, there'd be kind of no point doing it. So thank you so much for listening. And we will see you next week. Happy September guys. Bye. The growing up podcast is sponsored by first tunnels. The most amazing supplier of polytunnels, polytunnel covers and accessories. Polytunnels provide a stable environment to grow with it. Inside your tunnel, the growing season is extended. Spring arrives earlier and autumn arrives later. How amazing is that? It sounds really amazing. If you're thinking of adding a polytunnel to your garden, a lotment or commercial growing space, first tunnels are quite simply the only supplier that we would recommend. To see their websites find out more, we've put the link in the description of this episode.

36:53And thank you so much, first tunnels.