September is a lovely month – the weather is usually rather good; the evenings haven’t drawn in too much and the children are back at school!

It can be thought of as coming to the end of the year in the garden, but it is also time for planning and planting bulbs for the coming year. It is a good time to order bulbs from catalogues such as Avon bulbs, who stock a delicious range of more unusual bulbs and who constantly win gold at Chelsea for their amazing displays. Tulips are best left until November to plant, but other things such as narcissus and crocus can be put in towards the back end of September.

One less job to do in busy springtime
If the weather allows, you can get on with lifting and dividing any perennials that have gotten too congested, and stopped flowering as well as they had been – this can be done in spring but by then things can get very busy, so it is one less job to do.

Lift the large clumps and with a pair of garden forks back to back, prise them apart into smaller pieces. Discard the woody, congested centre of clumps, replanting pieces which look healthy and have a good root system, as well as new shoots, into compost enriched soil with some bone meal added. These will give a good show the following summer.

Help to ensure a good crop next year
Cut asparagus ferns to the ground and get rid of them, as they may be harbouring the eggs of the asparagus beetle. Apply a balanced feed such as blood, fish and bone meal over the soil surface to help ensure a good crop next year.

If your mint, lemon balm or chives are looking a bit congested, lift and divide, replanting only the most vigorous section of roots. This will give them a chance to settle down before winter comes and they can burst into life in spring. You can pot up some bits and keep under a cloche, greenhouse or the kitchen windowsill for use through the winter.

Keep wasps away
If wasps are becoming a nuisance during your last barbeques of the season, buy one of the paper pretend wasp nests that are available. Apparently, hanging one near your table will keep wasps away, as they are very territorial and think that there are wasps there already!