Lawns: sow new lawns or repair damaged patches. If sowing small areas, net to protect the seed from birds. Apply an Autumn weed and feed.
Fruit and Vegetables: Harvest apples now when they easily come off the tree when gently twisted. Sow winter salads such as lamb’s lettuce. Plant hardy onions eg Senshyu Yellow. Double your strawberry patch by pegging runners from the plants into pots filled with compost and keep them watered until they are rooted then cut them away from parent plant.
Trees, shrubs and flowers: Continue to deadhead. Plant spring bulbs by the end of the month. Prune late flowering shrubs. Divide herbaceous perennials if they have outgrown their space or are looking tired. Doing this will improve their flowering and shape and invigorate them.
September is a good month to plant new shrubs and perennials. Give hedges a final light trim to keep them in shape over winter. Consider replacing a boundary fence with a hedge which will offer shelter and food for wildlife, can help absorb noise, capture pollution and are better windbreaks than fences.
Wildlife: Keep bird feeders clean by scrubbing them regularly with hot water before refilling to help stop spreading disease. Try and leave some seedheads for birds to feed on.
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