WHAT TO DO IN EARLY SEPTEMBER

• Use osmo Autumn feed to harden up your plants for the winter
• Continue to plant autumn vegetables
• Prune old fruited stems of raspberries down to soil level
• Pinch out tops of main shoots on outdoor tomato plants
• Prune trained forms of fruit trees
• Remove suckers from roses, shrubs and trees
• Trim box hedging and topiary Prune rambling roses, removing shoots that have finished flowering
• Plant conifers, shrubs and hedging
• Tie tall chrysanthemums to supports
• Plant autumn crocuses, sternbergia, colchicums, hardy cyclamen and nerines
• Dig up hardy annuals if you don't want them to set seed
• Pick ripe apples and store the best in fruit crates
• Dig up strawberry runners and pot them up and Net autumn raspberries & blackberries to protect them from birds
• Lift and dry main crop potatoes and store in paper sacks in a cool, dark place
• Pot up a few herbs to bring into a porch or grow on the window sill
• Sow broad beans and hardy peas for early crops next year
• Check pears regularly to harvest when perfectly ripe
• Vegetables to sow now include winter radishes, lettuce

In September the garden slows down, the fading heads of summer flowers just ghostly reminders of the brilliant colours that preceded them. The opportunities to increase your flower density in your garden at this time of year  are immense in fact this can be the most productive time to garden, an energetic weekend of bulb planting for example can provide you with flowers in as little as four months. Snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils and alliums will fill the garden from January to June.  This is also a great way to encourage the next generation of gardeners, since planting bulbs is child’s play. All it needs is some well drained soil, a few bulbs and a little patience. In September the soil is warm, so it’s perfect time to get plants in the ground, plants will benefit from an autumn planting and will grow much stronger. Here are my top 3 show stopping flowers of the month. Crocosmia, over a century of breeding has produced hundreds of crocosmia cultivars, and no late summer garden should be without their warmth of colour in shades of yellow, orange and red. The foliage alone is an asset to the garden as it’s sword like leaves remain fresh from spring to their late summer flowering, giving form to planting schemes. Sedums have the advantage of looking good almost all year round. The grey flower heads that form in summer are very similar to heads of broccoli and gradually over the season assume their true colour. The flower heads attract hordes of butterflies and many beneficial insects to collect their nectar. Anemones are a contrast to the sometimes unsubtle colours of late summer flowers. Although Japanese anemones will grow in moist shade or sun they always look happier in partial shade rather than full sunlight. Planted in a group around a small tree or with a background or shrubs, they will light up a shady corner.