September is often a lovely month and has the added appeal that the children are back at school!

Sow salad crops for autumn and winter use. Things like Corn Salad, Land Cress and Winter Purslane can all be sown into open ground, although they will crop better if covered by a cloche or fleece as the weather gets colder. You can use the plastic containers that mushrooms come in, and keep them near the back door to snip at.

Prune young lavender plants to keep them bushy
September is a good time to give established lavender plants a clip – don’t cut into the old bald wood as it will not regenerate (in cases like this it is better to buy a new plant). Younger plants can do with a harder prune to keep them bushy.

Use a biological control against vine weevil grubs
Now is also a good time to use a biological control (nematodes) against vine weevil grubs – you know the little beasts that, as grubs, lie in wait in pots of cyclamen, primulas, begonias and other species and eat the roots away until the poor plant keels over. The adult weevils make unsightly notches on the leaves of plants such as rhododendrons, which will not kill them, but look horrid.

The biological control is good to use on potted plants, but is not so effective in the garden – depending on the type of soil. You can buy them from the garden centre or online, and from what I remember you have to send off for the little ‘critters’, as they don’t have a shelf life, and they get posted to you.

Follow the instructions on the packet, mix up the microscopic nematode with water and drench the pots. Don’t let the compost dry out.

Leave a passage for frogs and toads
Cover small ponds with netting to keep the falling leaves out as the trees start to turn. I usually leave a passage through for toads, frogs and other creatures so they don’t get all caught up!

Don’t forget to buy sweetpea seeds – you can plant them next month and they always do better planted in the autumn, as they get away quicker in the spring.

A strange note to leave on, but if you want to avoid being one of the many people who visit the Accident and Emergency Department in the local hospital, do remember to put some sort of top onto bamboo canes. My sister uses empty snail shells, which actually looks rather decorative and perhaps serves as a warning to our slimey friends!