🍂 What to Do Now – September in the Garden

September is one of my favourite times in the garden. There’s still warmth in the air, plenty to harvest, and late flowers keeping borders alive with colour - but it’s also a month of preparation.

What you do now will set the stage for both autumn displays and next spring’s success. Here’s my checklist of jobs to tackle this month.

✂️ Cutting Back & Deadheading

• Perennials – Cut back any spent perennials that have finished flowering, tidying borders and encouraging healthy regrowth.
• Roses – Keep deadheading to prolong their blooms. Remember the five-leaf rule: cut back just above a leaf with five leaflets to encourage stronger new shoots.
• Container plants – Hanging baskets and pots still have life in them if you keep deadheading and feeding weekly. It’s amazing how much longer they’ll give you colour.
  
  

🌱 Planting & Mulching

• Spring bulbs – Now’s the time to plant daffodils, crocuses, and hyacinths in borders and pots for a brilliant show next year.
• Autumn containers – Fill pots with cyclamen, heathers, and heucheras for seasonal interest.
• Mulch beds – Add compost or bark to lock in moisture, improve soil, and help keep weeds down as the seasons shift.
  
  

💧 Irrigation – How Much & When?

Rainfall may start to increase, but don’t neglect watering. Pots, hanging baskets, and thirsty veg like courgettes still need regular attention. Water deeply once or twice a week, and always early morning or evening to reduce evaporation.

🥕 Kitchen Garden Harvest

This is the month for enjoying your crops! Keep harvesting beans, courgettes, cucumbers, tomatoes, and soft fruits—it encourages plants to produce more. Pick apples and pears before the wind gets to them, and store unblemished fruits somewhere cool and airy.

🌿 Sow Now for Later

• In the greenhouse (or under cover), September is a busy sowing month:
• Quick crops: spinach, lettuce, salad onions, microgreens.
• For later harvests: broad beans, onions, shallots, garlic, and hardy herbs.
• Get ahead: start tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers in a heated propagator for planting later.
  
  

🧹 General Garden Maintenance

• Weeding – Keep on top before weeds set seed. Mulching helps save time and effort.
• Lawns – Rake out thatch, spike compacted areas, and reseed bare patches.
• Ponds – Net ponds before leaves fall and clear algae or duckweed.
• Wildlife care – Leave sunflower heads standing for birds, and clean feeders regularly to keep them healthy.
  
  

🌼 Enjoy the Season

September is a month of balance—enjoying the last of summer’s colour while quietly preparing for the months ahead. A little care now will reward you with fresh displays this autumn and a stronger start next spring.

Need a hand with seasonal jobs?

I offer practical garden maintenance and planting advice across Kettering, Wellingborough, Desborough, Finedon, Kibworth Beauchamp, Great Glen, Fleckney, Thurnby & Bushby, and Kilby. Whether it’s tidying borders, planting bulbs, or preparing your kitchen garden, I’d be delighted to help.