Things to do this week in the garden:
:: Spring-clean the greenhouse if you've finished harvesting summer crops
:: Keep brassicas covered to protect them from pigeons
:: Buy a compost bin as so much autumn debris can be added to it this month
:: Continue to plant spring bulbs including daffodils, snowdrops and crocuses
:: Stop feeding permanent plants growing in containers
:: If you're going to plant forced hyacinth bulbs for Christmas, do it now
:: Carry out lawn repairs, mending bald patches or sorting out bumps and hollows
:: Prune repeat or continuous-flowering old-fashioned shrub and species roses
:: If the ground is soft enough, move evergreen shrubs and conifers which have outgrown their allotted space
:: Sow overwintering onions in vacant rows in the veg plot.
:: Train and prune cane fruits including loganberries and tayberries
BEST OF THE BUNCH – Bugbane (Cimicifuga)
These unusual perennials which flower from July to September have white or cream flower heads that look like bottle brushes and elegant foliage. They are sturdy and easy to grow in a cool, moist position such as by a pond and are best left undisturbed once planted. Use them as a background plant to vivid phlox. You can also get purple-leaved bugbanes which are good plant partners for late aconitums or golden-leaved grass such as Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola'.
