September gardening: bulbs and sowings to plant now for a colourful spring

September is a pivotal month in the garden: it's when you set up the plantings that will flower as soon as winter ends. According to the RHS and BBC Gardeners' World, spring-flowering bulbs are now available in garden centres — buy early for the best choice and start planting.

Bulbs and perennials

Plant daffodils (at a depth of three times the bulb's height) and crocus corms (7-12 cm deep) this month so they can establish before winter. It's also a good time to divide herbaceous perennials like heleniums or hardy geraniums to reinvigorate them, and to plant new perennials while the soil is still warm and moisture is increasing.

Sowings and the vegetable patch

Sow hardy annuals (pot marigold, love-in-a-mist, cornflowers) for an early display, and in the veg patch plant garlic (2.5 cm deep, 25 cm apart), broad beans and overwintering onions for earlier harvests next year. Leave cutting back perennials until late winter to provide wildlife habitat.

Sources: RHS, BBC Gardeners' World