What Gardening Jobs should I be doing in September?

Autumn is calling! And we kick the autumn off by entering the month of September, a transitional month in the garden, especially in temperate climates — summer crops are winding down, and it's time to prepare for autumn and even next spring.

 

Here's a list of key gardening jobs for September, categorized for ease:

 

Gardening Jobs in September

Flower Garden

• Plant spring-flowering bulbs: Daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, and alliums can go in now (wait until October/November for tulips).
• Deadhead and tidy up: Keep deadheading dahlias, cosmos, and rudbeckia to extend flowering.
• Divide perennials: Plants like hostas, daylilies, and geraniums can be lifted and divided now.
• Take cuttings: From tender perennials like fuchsias, pelargoniums, and salvias before frosts hit.
• Lift tender bulbs/tubers: If you're in a frost-prone area, begin lifting gladioli, begonias, and dahlias later in the month.

Vegetable Garden

• Harvest: Tomatoes, courgettes, runner beans, maincrop potatoes, beetroot, and late salads.
• Sow:
• Salad crops like lamb’s lettuce, winter purslane, mizuna
• Spinach and winter lettuces under cloches or in cold frames
• Green manure (e.g. phacelia, field beans) to improve soil over winter
• Plant out:
• Spring cabbages
• Overwintering onion sets and garlic
• Clear old crops: Compost healthy plants, dispose of any diseased material.

Fruit Garden

• Harvest fruit: Apples, pears, plums, autumn raspberries, blackberries.
• Prune:
• Summer-fruiting raspberries (cut old canes to ground level).
• Espalier or trained apple/pear trees — do final shaping.
• Check supports and ties: Ensure fruit trees and canes are secured against wind damage.

Greenhouse & Containers

• Bring tender plants under cover: If early frosts are forecast, start moving pelargoniums, chillies, etc.
• Sow winter salads: In pots or growbags under cover.
• Ventilate on warm days, but close up early in the evening to retain warmth.

Lawn & Hedges

• Mow less frequently, and on a higher setting.
• Scarify and aerate lawns to reduce thatch and compaction.
• Overseed bare patches and apply autumn lawn feed (low in nitrogen).
• Final hedge trim of the season — especially evergreen hedges.

 

 

With all those jobs that need doing, we personally recommend that a hot beverage should be in reach at at all times. Whether it’s a strong cup of tea, a creamy hot chocolate, or a spicy chai latte, that hot mug becomes more than just a drink. It’s a comfort, a pause, and sometimes even a little reward after ticking off a few satisfying tasks.

Autumn in the garden is less frantic than the peak of summer. The pace changes — and so should we. It’s the perfect time to take things slow: sip, observe, and tidy. The light softens, the colours deepen, and the garden takes on that unmistakable autumn magic.

With steam rising from your mug and breath turning visible in the morning air, it’s easy to feel more connected to the space around you.