Garden jobs month by month
Garden jobs in September
In September you pick apples, pears and nuts, plant evergreen hedges and shrubs, and give the hedge its last trim before mid-September. Leave faded perennials standing for insects and birds, and help hedgehogs put on weight before they hibernate: don’t use slug pellets.
Updated for 2027
What to do in the garden in September
September is harvest time and a good moment to plant evergreens: the soil is still warm and the autumn rain helps them settle in.
- Plant evergreen hedges and shrubs.
- Harvest apples, pears and quinces.
- Leave faded perennials standing for insects and birds.
- Do the last hedge trim before mid-September.
- Collect acorns and sweet chestnuts to grow a tree from seed yourself.
What to prune in September?
53 trees and hedges from the guide. When and how for each plant in its pruning guide:
- Beech
- Hornbeam
- Privet
- Yew
- Hawthorn
- Field maple
- Lavender
- Box (buxus)
- Cherry laurel
- Thuja
- Leyland cypress
- Walnut tree
What to sow and plant
- Sow outdoors
- chervil, common poppy, cornflower, lamb’s lettuce, Loose-leaf lettuce, oxeye daisy, pak choi, pot marigold and 3 more
- Planting out and planting
- Black-eyed Susan, catmint, chives, columbine, crocus, daffodil, delphinium, foxglove and 20 more
- Harvest from the vegetable garden
- aubergine, basil, beetroot, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, celeriac, celery and 40 more
What to harvest
From trees, shrubs and garden plants:
- Apple fruit
- Pear fruit
- Plum fruit
- Quince fruit
- Raspberry fruit
- Bramble fruit
- Highbush blueberry berries
- Grapevine fruit
- Fig fruit
- Peach fruit
- Hazel nuts
- Walnut nuts
and 127 more
Recipes
- Apple purée Apple
- Stewed pears in red wine Pear
- Plum jam Plum
- Quince jelly Quince
- Raspberry jam Raspberry
- Blackberry jelly Bramble
What’s flowering for bees?
Trees and shrubs with nectar or pollen for bees and bumblebees:
- Butterfly bush
- Snowberry
- Japanese rose
- Syrian hibiscus
- Common ivy
- Common honeysuckle
- Traveller’s joy
- Russian vine
- Heather
- Cross-leaved heath
Nature in September
- Hedgehogs are fattening up for hibernation: leave the slugs and insects for them.
- Swallows gather on wires before migrating south.
- Garden spiders spin their webs in hedges and shrubs: leave them, they catch midges and flies.
What you can see now
- Ivy flowers: a late nectar feast for bees and wasps.
- Sweet chestnuts and hazelnuts are falling.
- The first autumn colours appear on sweetgum and cherry.
Challenges of the season
All challenges- Discover 10 speciesSave 10 different trees or plants in your guide.
- Harvest 5 cropsMark the harvest of 5 different crops in your vegetable garden.
Wildlife garden in September
All wildlife garden guidesRead more
All articles- Invasive non-native plants in your garden: how to recognise and replace themSome popular garden plants spread into the wild and crowd out the native plants there. How to recognise them, and some good alternatives.
- When should you cut your hedge? The nesting season and the best timesMost hedges are trimmed twice a year, at the end of June and the end of August. How to take nesting birds into account, and when to trim each type of hedge.
- Which hedge should you choose? Hedging plants comparedEvergreen or not, fast or slow, for sun or shade, and good for birds? How to choose the right hedging plant, with the pros and cons of the best-known species.
Coming up
Garden jobs in November
Each monthly page is online six to eight weeks ahead, so you can plan in time.