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September ‘To Do’ List

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  • Prune cane fruits such as raspberries and blackberries (except everbearing raspberries).
  • Plant winter pansies and fall annuals (calendula, dianthus, ornamental cabbage and kale).
  • Divide peonies. Be sure to have 3-5 eyes per division. Plant with eyes no deeper than 2” below soil.
  • Plant fall-blooming bulbs.
  • Divide bearded iris and perennials and plant new ones.
  • Plant bare root trees and shrubs.
  • Plant herbs and ground covers as the weather cools.
  • Save seed pods of flowers that you would like to propagate.
  • Take cuttings of bedding plants like geraniums, fuchsias and heliotrope. Do the same with shrubs and bush fruits, too.
  • Prune summer flowering heathers, and give hedges a final trim.
  • Pull up tomato plants by the end of the month and ripen indoors any unripened tomatoes.
  • Sow winter vegetables (lettuce, swiss chard and kale).
  • Order new fruit trees and bushes and prepare soil by digging in compost and manure.
  • Remove yellow leaves from water plants. Remove, clean and store water pump.
  • Plant rye grass as a cover crop for your vegetable garden to restore nitrogen to the soil.

(Thanks to June Meyer, and to Bob Tuckey from The Natural Gardener)