Jobs for September that need doing include continuing to dead head. All plants will benefit if the finished flowers, having often shed their petals, are not allowed to form seed heads. Thus the energy goes to the next crop of buds or even to tubers or bulbs forming underground. Another vital job is to check that any ties fitted earlier in the year are not strangling the stem. This can easily happen as the stem thickens with growth. Loosen the tie if necessary or fit new ties. Failure to do this can cause the stem to die or be broken by the wind.

Another job to try to fit in before the end of September is to take up all the plants that have reached their sell by date perhaps looking scraggy and leggy with maybe only the pitiful lone flower. Removing them gives you the opportunity to fork or dig the ground ready for autumn or spring planting. For almost any shrub, tree or bush autumn is the best time for planting. Many bare rooted plants such as wallflowers are in fact only sold for a few weeks in the autumn. Tree roses will be available any time now so study the catalogues and if you want something special place an order.

If you are buying bare rooted stock (much cheaper than in containers) especially roses it is good practice to get the secateurs out and before planting take the tip off each root, about an inch is ideal. As the season progresses keep an eye on the garden centres.

For the keen gardeners who like to take cuttings from their favourite shrub or plant now is the time to deal with this task. Cuttings can be taken from Hydrangeas, many evergreen shrubs, roses and of course the ever favourite geranium. We need to watch out for any signs of mildew which is the worst autumn problem affecting roses and Michaelmas daises. This can be controlled by spraying. If you find this difficult to control it might be best to dig up affected plants and replace with modern immune or resistant varieties.