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Daily gardening tip · Northern hemisphere · Monday 14 September 2026 · early autumn

Prepare Your Frost Protection Gear

An unexpected early autumn frost can damage tender plants if you are caught unprepared.

Prepare Your Frost Protection Gear
15 minuteseasyfrost protection
  1. Locate your horticultural fleece, frost blankets, or cloches in your shed or garage.
  2. Clean off any dust, cobwebs, or debris from your cold frames and protective covers.
  3. Inspect the materials for tears or damage so you can repair them before they are needed.
  4. Place these items in an easily accessible spot close to your garden beds.
A garden in early autumn

Why it works

Early autumn frosts often arrive without warning on clear, still nights. Having your protective covers clean and ready to hand allows you to quickly shield vulnerable plants before dusk, trapping the earth's natural warmth around them.

Burke's goldfields

Plant of the day

Burke's goldfields

Lasthenia burkei

An endangered annual herb endemic to vernal pools and wet meadows in Northern California. It features narrow, often pinnate leaves and bright yellow composite flowers with distinct ray and disc florets.

Read about it →

Gardening news

Gardening news

BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair 2026 show garden winners

A major autumn gardening event has announced the winners of its garden design awards, which include Edward Doherty, the Association of Professional Landscapers, and Amaranth Collaborative.

The Dirt · 2026-09-12
New research

Letting nature restore wildflower meadows preserves local plant diversity

Researchers found that allowing farm fields to recover naturally without planting commercial seeds resulted in thousands of native orchids appearing. Natural recovery better protects local genetic diversity and prevents wildflower meadows from becoming generic.

sciencedaily.com
On this day

German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt was born

Alexander von Humboldt was born in Berlin on 14 September 1769. He became a pioneering naturalist and explorer whose extensive plant collections and studies of plant geography laid the foundations for modern biogeography.

britannica.com

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