JOBS for the week

You can increase your stock of border carnations by layering – choose a healthy side shoot that isn’t flowering, bend it over without snapping the stem and peg firmly into the ground with some wire. Cover the stem with soil and water in.

Divide overcrowded bearded irises to improve vigour for next year.

Cyclamen corms that you have been storing can be started into growth in the greenhouse.

Having trouble with earwigs on your dahlias? Make traps with pots stuffed with shredded paper, and remove earwigs daily.

Prune your climbing and rambling roses if they have finished flowering.

Conifer and evergreen hedges can have a final trim to tidy up before autumn slows growth.

A high-phosphate feed for the lawn will help encourage strong root growth – a good measure to strengthen it for winter.

Colchicum, sternbergia and autumn crocus should be planted in the ground as soon as they are available to buy in the garden centre.