Although autumn unmistakably arrives this month, the huge availability of tender perennials means we can all ensure our gardens remain colourful for a few more weeks. Dahlias really come into their own, along with salvias, cannas and other exotics. Crocosmias, perennials asters and Japanese anemones are easy choices for colour in the border. The weather in early September can often be warm and sunny, but by the end of the month it is often unsettled with rain and strong winds. Frost may strike so gardeners need to be prepared to move tender plants to their winter quarters. Cacti and houseplants should be brought inside at the beginning of the month.

ESSENTIAL JOBS CHECKLIST FOR SEPTEMBER

• Buy spring bulbs for next year
• Plant prepared bulbs for Christmas flowering
• Dead-head roses and trim back tall stems
• Harvest sweetcorn and onions
• Rake lawn to remove debris and apply autumn dressing
• Continue to plant containerised trees and shrubs
• Keep feeding fish in ponds
• Sow new lawns

Take cuttings of tender perennials

• Buy spring bulbs for next year. For a wider choice than is available at your local garden centre, study mail order catalogues. Most bulbs, including daffodils, hyacinths, lilies and small bulbs are best planted this month or in early October. Tulips are better planted towards the end of October
• Give evergreen hedges a final trim to ensure they are neat for the winter
• Now's the time to go around your garden collecting seeds from perennials and annuals. Collect seed heads in paper bags and leave them in a warm place to dry for a few days, before cleaning and storing in small envelopes. Some gardens that open to the public offer see-collecting days – a great way to find something unusual. Most seeds are best sown in spring
• Sweet pea lovers may find that sowing seed in autumn produces stronger plants. Do not soak the seeds as they are liable to rot. Use J Arthur Bower's Traditional Seed and Potting Compost and sow the seeds in root trainers, sweet peas tubes, pots or trays. It has been found that dark coloured seeds germinate well in fairly damp compost, but pale seed require a compost that is only just moist. Cover the containers with glass or put them in a propagator and keep at around 15 C (59 F). When the seedlings appear transfer them to a cold frame. Pinch out the growing tips when the plants are about 10 cm (4 inches) high

• Shrub roses and ramblers can easily be propagated from stem cuttings at this time of year. Take a length of stem about 30cm (12 inches) long and trim it off just below the bottom leaf. Remove the soft tip just above a root joint. Take off all but the top two or three leaves and push the cuttings into a well dug trench in the garden to about half their length. They should be left for 12 months to root and develop
• If rambler and climbing roses have got a bit out of hand, spend a bit of time tying them in

• Aerate the lawn with a fork or special tool then apply J Arthur Bower's Autumn Lawn Food to nourish your lawn through the winter months
• You can continue to re-seed bare patches on your lawn. It's also a good time of year to prepare the ground for sowing a new lawn, while the earth is still warm

• Bring in cacti and houseplants that have spent the summer out of doors
• Continue to take cuttings of tender perennials
• Buy prepared bulbs for Christmas flowering and plant them in bowls of J Arthur Bower's Bulb Fibre. The added charcoal will keep the compost sweet even if the container has no drainage holes, but make sure you don't saturate it
• If you have kept indoor cyclamen plants from last winter you should now start watering them. Water from the bottom by standing them in a shallow tray and allow to drain thoroughly.

• Your summer bedding will probably still be looking so good that you can't bear to throw it out yet. Keep them going until they look tired. Remember that you can overwinter many tender plants. Take them out of their pots and brush off most of the old compost so that you can trim back the roots. Also trim the top growth. Then place them in a tray with some damp, bot not saturated, J Arthur Bower's peat covering the roots and store them in a frost-free place
• When planting daffodils in containers it's worth planting two layers of bulbs, slightly staggered one above the other. This will ensure a spectacular display. Plant the bulbs deeply enough to allow you to plant winter and spring bedding, such as winter pansies, primroses, polyanthus and wallflowers on top

• Sweetcorn will be ready to harvest when the silks have turned from golden to brown. For the sweetest taste, cook them within minutes of cutting
• Ripe onions should be lifted carefully and laid out to dry before storing
• Continue to harvest runner beans and courgettes. Make sure you don't leave runner and French beans too long otherwise they will be stringy and tough
• If you're sowing out of doors this month you can speed up germination by putting a cloche over the seeds

• Parsley can be sown now for an early spring crop
• Tidy up your herb garden by dead-heading and trimming back perennials and discarding annuals

• Cover autumn-fruiting blackberries and raspberries with netting to keep off the birds, but check daily to ensure no animals or birds get trapped
• Pick early varieties of apples as soon as they're ripe and eat them – they won't keep1
• If you want to obtain new fruit trees send off for some specialist catalogues. You'll get a far wider choice that way

• Continue to feed fish
• Clear decaying foliage from waterlilies

• Tidy up your alpine plants for the winter, making sure they're all firmly settled into the ground. Renew top dressings of Silvaperl Coarse Grit

Look at our information pages. The aim is to cut out the mystique that surrounds many common tasks, and to explain in a simple way, why and how to do them. This way, we hope to help you enjoy your garden more, and get the best out of it.

Under each topic, you'll also find a guide to the wide range of J Arthur Bower's products available to help you with that particular task. The choice is yours.