10 gardening tips for September

Autumn is the time to harvest seeds and start protecting plants for the winter – but there's still the chance to grow salad, even in September.

1. How tall are your sunflowers? Leave them in situ for autumn bird food.
2. 'Scarify' your lawn with a rake to remove the thatch from your grass and help it grow better.
3. There is still time to sow a few more greens to keep you in salad through the autumn. Try autumn sowings of lamb’s lettuce, mizuna, and other speedy seedsLINK. Some crops will need protection.
4. Dig up potatoes carefully on a sunny day. Allow to dry before storing somewhere cool, dry and dark.
5. Keep harvesting your fruit and veg, and either use them now or store them. With onions you can string them up, which ensures good air flow around them and enables you to store them for much longer.
6. Short on fruit in your garden? Hit the hedgerows for blackberries; great for jam, crumbles and wine.
7. Allow seeds from hardy annuals such as pot marigold and nasturtium, to fall to the ground, where they will hopefully germinate and produce strong young plants for next year.
8. Collect seeds for sowing next year. Do this in the middle of the day, when the seeds are dry, and try to select mature seeds. Store them in paper bags and make sure you label the bags. Read our tips on how to do this.
9. Harvest attractive seed heads, such as poppies, for use as Christmas decorations. Check out our ideas for how to make a Christmas wreath.
10. Propagate tender perennials, such as salvias, by taking cuttings. Protect them and keep them moist.

With thanks to Catherine Cutler, Duana Pearson and Helen Lannon.