What to do in the garden in September

As the sun dips lower, things get busy in the garden again. The autumn harvest needs gathering in, and late summer flowers are at their best - so gear up and get stuck in to this month’s jobs around the garden.

General tasks:

Clean the greenhouse after clearing spent tomato and cucumber plants, washing the glass thoroughly and disinfecting benches and pots.

Feed established lawns with low-nitrogen feed to encourage plenty of root growth ahead of winter.

Ornamental garden:

Keep up with dead-heading, removing faded blooms to encourage flowerbuds to keep coming until the first frosts.

Plant paperwhite narcissi in pots of free-draining compost ready to force for sweetly-scented flowers this Christmas.

Plant new shrubs, trees and perennials while the soil is still warm and rain is likely, so they’re well established before winter sets in.

Kitchen garden:

Direct sow hardy salad leaves to harvest through autumn and winter, choosing cold-tolerant varieties like ‘Winter Density’ lettuce, mibuna and pak choi.

Bring pots of basil indoors and pop on a sunny windowsill where they’ll stay productive for weeks longer.

Plant Japanese onion sets to overwinter as seedlings and get a head start in spring, giving you bulbs weeks earlier than spring-sown varieties.