There are still plenty of jobs to be done outdoors before autumn arrives A

S I WRITE it’s sweltering. If gardening’s your passion, you’ll enjoy the extra time you can spend outdoors. This might be just relaxing in your Eden, and observing nature.

Even at summer’s end, there’s plenty of gardening to be done. As August turns towards September any garden can look a bit scruffy and in need of a bit of attention.

So here’s my guide to a few tasks you might want to consider.

If you’ve finished harvesting in the veg garden, you can plant a green manure to put some goodness back into the ground.

Fast-growing plants, such as red clover or alfalfa, will provide useful ground cover to stop weeds taking over, and then they can be dug back into the soil in spring, returning nutrients.

Sow the seeds across bare soil and lightly rake in. Next spring you can cut the plants down, let them wilt and dig them back into the earth.

Allow a couple of weeks for them to fully break down before sowing new vegetables.

Alternatively you might want to squeeze a bit more out of your veg patch this year by sowing quickgrowing leaves, such as spinach and rocket, for a final quick crop.

Next, the lawn. It’s been working hard for you all summer but has endured a lot of wear as a result of regular use.

Also, over the last six months of growth, dead material has been building up at the base of the individual grass plants.

As growth is slowing down, you can raise the lawnmower blade. After cutting, give the grass a vigorous raking to remove any dead matter. In a couple of weeks you can apply some autumn lawn feed which will help to strengthen the roots for the winter ahead.

It’s also time to trim those evergreen hedges. Yew can be cut back hard, but with conifers such as Leyland cypress or thuja, don’t cut back beyond green growth as it won’t recover and you’ll be left with bald or brown patches.

Privet, beech and hornbeam can all be clipped now.

If you’re using electric hedge trimmers, be sure to wear eye goggles as flying bits of debris can Even though there is still plenty of warm weather to enjoy, this is no time to ignore jobs like hedge trimming, pruning and seed panting damage the surface of the eye.

Garden centres are well worth a visit this weekend to pick up end-of-summer bargains. You’ll get very good deals on garden furniture, ornaments and barbecues.

Also, look out for herbaceous plants that have finished flowering as these are often reduced in price. One good-sized herbaceous plant can be Cut and rake the grass and, in a few weeks, you can feed it to make it strong for next year divided into three to five sections for Or maybe you just want to kick anniversary of Capability Brown by autumn planting. back and relax. visiting one of his iconic landscapes,

While you’re there, browse through How about taking the opportunity such as at Blenheim Palace. the bulbs for inspiration. Autumnto visit a garden you’ve always For details, see capabilitybrown. flowering org.bulbs, such as nerine, wanted to see? The White Garden at Sternbergia (winter daffodil) and Sissinghurst in Kent, for instance or We have glorious gardens the autumn crocus can go straight in the the sub-tropical paradise at length and breadth of the country, so ground this weekend. Abbotsbury, Dorset? Or maybe the while it’s still warm, take a picnic and

Spring bulbs can be bought and famous fountains of Chatsworth? admire the work of other passionate stored for autumn planting. You could even mark the 300th gardeners. It’s a good time to plant evergreens