Making the Most of Mellow September Days

By Setting a Traditional Afternoon Tea at Home
Comments 35
13 Jul 2026

Making the Most of Mellow September Days

The Golden Hour of the Garden Year

September is the month that quietly rewards anyone who has been paying attention. The fierce glare of midsummer has gone, but the light has turned thick and honeyed, the sort that makes even a modest patch of lawn look like something worth painting. Mornings carry a nip that reminds you where the year is heading, while afternoons can still be warm enough for a chair in the sun and a cup of tea that goes cold beside you.

For the gardener and the cook, this is the pivot point of the year. The plot is still generous, but it is also beginning to make its preparations for the cold. Do a little gathering now, and a little storing, and you will eat well into the darker months without much extra effort. The trick is not to chase the whole harvest in a single weekend. Take it in small, pleasant bites, and September becomes one of the most enjoyable months of the year.

A Morning Among the Apples

If you have never spent an hour in a local orchard in September, you are missing one of the great British pleasures. Early varieties are ready now, with the later keepers following through October. The traditional test for ripeness is simple: cup the apple in your palm, lift it slightly, and give a gentle twist. If it comes away cleanly with the stalk still attached, it is ready. If it resists, leave it another few days.

Never tug at the fruit. Bruised apples keep badly, and a bruised apple will soon spoil its neighbours in the box. Pick with the stalk intact, and lower each one into your basket rather than dropping it.

Early eaters: look for Discovery and Worcester Pearmain, both best eaten within a week or two of picking.
Later keepers: Cox's Orange Pippin and Egremont Russet will hold for weeks in a cool, dark place.
The cooks: Bramley is the great British cooking apple, breaking down into a soft, tangy fluff under heat.

Windfalls matter too. Gather them daily, cut out the bruised sections, and simmer the rest for apple jelly or a sharp sauce to serve with roast pork. Many community orchards and pick-your-own farms run apple days in September, and they are a fine way to spend a Saturday with children in tow.

Crumbles, Pies and Other Comforts

Once you have a basket of fruit, the crumble is the natural destination. For four generous portions, prepare roughly 700g of peeled, cored and sliced apples. Toss them with two tablespoons of caster sugar, a squeeze of lemon and a good pinch of cinnamon or mixed spice, then tip them into a buttered dish. For the topping, rub 100g of cold butter into 200g of plain flour until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs, then stir in 75g of demerara sugar.

Bake at 190°C (170°C fan) for about 35 to 40 minutes, until the fruit bubbles at the edges and the top is crisp and golden. A handful of porridge oats or flaked almonds in the topping adds a pleasing crunch.

Blackberries are still abundant in the hedgerows, so a handful or two folded through the apples is no bad idea. Anything you cannot use fresh can be stewed lightly with a little sugar, cooled and frozen in portion-sized bags. Come January, those bags are worth more than gold.

Lifting and Storing the Roots

Root vegetables lifted in dry weather and stored properly will see you through to spring. Choose a dry afternoon, fork them up carefully, and leave them on the surface for an hour or two to dry. Never wash them before storing, as damp invites rot.

Carrots and beetroot: twist off the foliage, leaving a short stub, and layer them in boxes of barely damp sand or spent potting compost. Keep the boxes in a cool shed or garage.
Potatoes: cure for a fortnight in a dark, airy spot, then store in paper sacks or hessian sacks, never polythene.
Onions and shallots: dry until the necks are papery and the skins rustle, then plait them or hang them in nets.
Parsnips and leeks: leave them in the ground. A touch of frost sweetens parsnips beautifully.

Check your stores every week or so and remove anything softening or spotted. One bad root can ruin a whole box.

Small Jobs for Mellow Afternoons

There is still plenty to do, though none of it should feel like a rush. Sow a green manure such as field beans or grazing rye on any bare beds to protect the soil over winter. Trim hedges lightly one last time, deadhead the roses, and keep cutting the lawn, though you can raise the blades a notch now.

Order and plant spring bulbs while the soil is still warm. Daffodils and narcissi are best in the ground by the end of the month, with tulips happy to wait until November. Save seed from beans, calendula and nigella, and add the last of the summer prunings to the compost heap.

September is not a month for frantic effort. It is a month for wandering out with a basket after breakfast, for the smell of apples in a cool shed, and for the quiet satisfaction of a larder slowly filling. Work with the light while it lasts, and the garden will carry you gently towards winter.

Seasonal Notes

Baking Cheese Scones for a Savoury Tea

A gentle riverside walk can reveal herons, kingfishers and old mills. Pack a flask and wear sturdy shoes for muddy stretches.

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5 Comments

Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply
- John Abraham says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
  
  I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
  Reply
  - Robert Sonnysays Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
    
    I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
    Reply
Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply

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