GARDENING AND LANDSCAPING

With Summer bowing out and Autumn on it's way, your gardening jobs are ready to change again to adapt to the upcoming cooler weather. Here are some gardening jobs you can get on with in September.

One way to care for your soil is to try and take control of pesky weeds. Making sure you get them while they are still small will help to ensure they don’t overtake your flowers and borders and restrict the growth of other plants. Use a hoe or hand weeder tool

If you’re looking to freshen up your fences but aren’t sure where to start, take a look at our how to paint a fence guide. Our easy-to-follow guide will show you that with a bit of time and care you can restore and maintain your fencing

Take the time to go through any seed packets you already have and get them organised into different containers for the different times of year you’ll be sowing. You’ll need to start sowing indoors if there is still a chance of frost or use a greenhouse or cold frame with added insulation for outdoor sowing. Seeds such as cosmos or salvia can be started in a propagator or on a well-lit windowsill. You could even try sowing sweet peas into biodegradable toilet roll tubes; they grow long roots that like to be undisturbed so transplanting them straight out into a container when they are ready is ideal. If you are planning to sow outdoors, you can start to prepare your beds by adding a layer of fleece to warm the soil.

You don’t need to be green fingered for this top tip. Whether on a fence, wooden garden furniture or garden wall, adding a bit of colour with outdoor paint will help to brighten up the grey UK skies. You could add little pops of bold colour to your potting table or add a new lease of life to your shed with a wood treatment. Or have a go at stencilling a pattern on your patio for a feature floor. Adding a bright colour on a wall will add a modern look, a vibrant backdrop for those evenings spent al fresco. If you are worried about going too bold, you can keep it muted but fresh with timeless shades of grey, green, and white.

Keeping your garden shears and other cutting tools sharp and well maintained is important for your safety as well as to help make the job of cutting bushes and shrubs easier. Cutting with sharp garden shears also promotes healthier growth of your plants. A bit of effort will go a long way to making that job of tidying up your outdoor areas, follow this simple step-by-step guide on how to sharpen garden shears.