As the summer months come to a close and winter is drawing ever nearer, it can be a strange time of year for your garden. During the month of September, there are some very simple tips you can follow to help prepare you garden for the harsher weather.

In Your Flower Garden

• Keep going with your weeding and dead heading! It will mean that you extend the season of flowering as well as keeping the nutrients and moisture in the soil for your plants instead of the weeds
• September is the perfect time to plant some new spring bedding. This can include wallflowers, primula and bellis
• If you have any tender perennials, fuchsia or geraniums for example, you should bring them inside before the frosts start. If you have somewhere frost free to keep them, great, if not, take cuttings.

Landscaping For Your Lawn

• This month, you need to mow your lawn less often. When you do get your lawnmower out, make sure you raise the height of it.
• This is a good time of year to sow or turf yourself a new lawn. If your not sure how to go about it, it might be something best left to a professional landscaping company that offer an impressive service.
• If your feeling up to some hard work, you can scarify your lawn. This is when you rake out all the thatch and debris with a long tined rake and then you can aerate it, which is when you make holes all over your lawn with a fork. It will make your lawn look much better and prevent issues such as moss and water logging in the winter months.

Your Fruit Trees And Vegetables Patches

• By the time we get to the end of September, you should wrap a grease band around the trunks of your fruit trees to stop wingless female moths climbing up and laying their eggs
• If you have any tomatoes growing outdoors, these need picking before the frosts start and should be brought indoors to ripen. If you leave them on the vine, you can place the whole truss in a greenhouse or on your windowsill
• Make sure you lift all your root vegetables and store them in a cool dry place. If you have any parsnips, these should be left in the ground, as they taste better after being frosted.

Wildlife In Your Garden

• Give your bird bath a clean out and make sure they are topped up with water
• If you have a spacious garden, put a pile of logs or twigs in a quiet corner, to attract wildlife
• You should make or buy a hedgehog hibernation box to encourage our spiked friends into your garden. Place it under a pile of dead leaves at the back of the garden where it is unlikely to be disturbed.