Take stock of what thrived, what struggled and what your garden has taught you this year
Before you start planning next year’s garden, take one proper look at the one you have now. By September, the season has revealed almost everything: which plants kept going, which containers constantly demanded attention, where colour disappeared too soon and which areas coped surprisingly well through summer.
Those successes and frustrations are some of the most useful clues you have for making your 2027 garden even better.
Start With Your Star Performers
Begin with the plants that impressed you most. Which ones flowered for weeks rather than days? Which still looked good after that intense spell of summer heat? Which varieties needed very little attention but continued to give you colour?
The best gardens are not necessarily packed with the most plants. They are carefully balanced so something interesting is happening throughout the seasons.
Make a note of your strongest performers and consider repeating them elsewhere next year. Sometimes one successful plant is the clue to an entire planting scheme.
Look Beyond The Flowers
Do not judge everything purely by the number of blooms. Some plants earn their place through attractive foliage, shape, scent, berries or winter structure. Others may flower spectacularly but leave an awkward gap for the rest of the year.
Look at your borders as a whole. Are there areas that became bare after spring? Did one vigorous plant swamp its neighbours? Did several plants flower at exactly the same time, leaving very little interest afterwards?
The best gardens are not necessarily packed with the most plants. They are carefully balanced so something interesting is happening throughout the seasons.
Which Containers Struggled?
Pots and baskets are particularly useful during a September audit because problems tend to show themselves clearly.
If a container repeatedly dried out, ask why. Was it simply too small for the plants inside? Was it positioned against a hot wall? Did several vigorous plants compete for a limited amount of compost and water?
Shop the best plants to grow in containers here!
Equally, a pot that stayed wet for too long may have had poor drainage, unsuitable compost or simply been planted with something that preferred drier conditions.
Do not automatically blame the plant. Often the real lesson is that the plant and the position were not the right match.
One of the easiest improvements for next year can simply be using a larger container. More compost means greater reserves of both water and nutrients, giving roots a much more forgiving environment.
What Did The Weather Reveal?
A difficult summer, and we’ve certainly had one of those, can be an excellent teacher.
Extended hot and dry weather exposes the parts of a garden that lose moisture fastest. You may discover that a border you thought was fairly moist became exceptionally dry by July, while another area stayed surprisingly cool.
Notice which plants coped without constant watering. Deep-rooted perennials, Mediterranean plants and those with silvery, leathery or narrow foliage often handle dry periods particularly well.
That does not mean your entire garden needs to become drought tolerant but placing plants according to the conditions they naturally prefer can dramatically reduce the amount of intervention required.
Check Your Timing
Another useful question is simply: when did your garden look its best?
If May and June were glorious but colour tailed away sharply afterwards, plan to introduce more late-flowering plants next year. If autumn currently looks stronger than spring, perhaps there is room for additional bulbs or early perennials.
Scroll back through pictures you have taken during the year and you may notice gaps that are difficult to remember several months later.
Even a few quick photographs taken from the same position every month can become an invaluable gardening record – so consider taking even more of your garden next year!
Turn Observations Into A Plan
Your September audit does not need to become complicated. A notebook page divided into three headings is enough – Keep, Change and Add.
Write down the plants you definitely want again, anything that needs moving or replacing, and the gaps you would like to fill.
Most importantly, resist the temptation to change everything at once. Gardens develop gradually, and some of the best improvements come from making one or two informed decisions each season.
Every garden is effectively its own growing trial. The more closely you observe yours, the better you understand its particular conditions and the easier your future gardening becomes.
