With the soil still warm and weather mild, anything planted now will be safely established well before winter and ready to thrive in the springtime.

Fruit
Remove unwanted runners from strawberries to give main plants room to flourish and renew any plants over three years old. Prune trained fruit trees by shortening the side shoots. Protect ripe wall fruit and harvest apple and pear varieties that don’t keep particularly well.

Trees and Shrubs
Weed shrub borders thoroughly, take cuttings of older plants and plant evergreens and conifers.

Vegetables
Harvest any tender produce in case of early frosts. Carrots and beetroot can be lifted and stored, and unripe crops should be protected with straw or cloches. Pick tomatoes to ripen on a sunny windowsill. Sow seeds for spring crop.

Flowers
Plant spring flowering bulbs such as crocuses, snowdrops and narcissi and collect seeds from flowers for next year’s garden, e.g. marigold and sunflower. Ensure seeds are dry and mature, place in labelled envelopes and leave somewhere cool dark and dry.

Lawns  
September offers excellent conditions for laying new turf. Once in place keep well watered until established.  If the summer has been a dry one, your lawn may not be absorbing water-spike with garden fork to allow air and water to seep in.

Pots
Keep containers in tip top condition by watering when necessary dead-heading and trimming. Place house plants outside for a refreshing fine spray and re-pot any that have outgrown their containers.

Ponds 
Remove dead and dying plants from the water to keep it pollution free and move water hyacinths to a bowl of water in a warm spot for the winter.