Notes from the nursery, September

September is for planting, not tidying.

The soil is still warm from August and the autumn rain has started to come back, which makes this the kindest month of the year to put things in the ground. Roots have weeks to settle before the first frost, and very little needs watering by hand.

So leave the seed heads standing for the finches, and spend the dry afternoons on spring bulbs, hardy perennials and any shrub you have been meaning to move. Our first daffodil and allium deliveries arrived on the bench this week.

Plant tulips last, once the nights turn properly cold in November; everything else can go in from now. Bulbs want three times their own depth, pointed end up, and a handful of grit underneath if your soil holds water.

If you are not sure what will suit your garden, bring a photograph and a trowel of soil to the plant desk. Somebody from the nursery team is there every day from ten until four.