Make some notes on the position of your herbaceous perennials in your borders. Now is a good time to think about where to move them to later on in the autumn if you are not happy with their current position or height in the border etc. It is always a good idea to mark them with a stick as they die down so that you don’t dig them up by accident in the spring.
Lift and shift. Towards the end of the month you can lift those perennials, divide them and then move them somewhere else.
Start thinking about buying and planting spring bulbs. Daffodills are pest planted towards the end of the month and tulips are best planted in November.
Cut summer fruiting raspberry canes down to the ground once they have finished fruiting if you didn’t do so last month. The new canes which will still be green will provide fruit for next year so leave these and tie in for next year. Pick autumn flowering raspberries.
Continue to collect seed from perennials and annuals once the seed pods have dried out to either give to friends or re-sow yourself.
Don’t be tempted to forget about your hanging baskets and pots; keep watering, feeding and deadheading to prolong flowering. Most will flower quite happily until the first frosts.
If you are thinking about re-turfing your garden or re-seeding your lawn, now is a good time to do it as the soil is still reasonably warm and there tends to be more rainfall.
Continue to harvest your veg, potatoes, sweetcorn, runner beans and tomatoes. If, god forbid, there are any light frosts at the end of the month, cover your outdoor tomatoes with fleece for protection and don’t forget to keep feeding them with tomato feed. Don’t forget keep picking runner beans, ideally when they are young and not stringy, to keep encouraging continued cropping.
Grey Gardeners 