Summer may be well and truly over, but there are plenty of things to keep gardeners busy as we head into autumn

Here's what to do this week:

  • Clean barbecues, garden furniture and non-frost-resistant pots and store them for winter.
  • Finish repotting winter-flowering arum lilies (Zantedeschia aethiopica).
  • Check ties of climbers and replace as necessary where the shoots are rubbing against supports.
  • Mulch over areas that haven’t been done and replenish those areas which have dispersed.
  • Cut back dead or diseased branches of plum and cherry trees after picking. Paint saw cuts with wound paint.
  • Clean water butts to prevent contamination of the water and blocked taps.
  • Plant garlic outdoors in warm areas.
  • After sowing a new lawn, keep off young grass as much as possible until spring.
  • Sow seeds of pelargoniums in a frost-free greenhouse or conservatory.
  • Start planting container-grown trees and shrubs in the garden once there has been enough rain to wet the soil thoroughly.
  • Remove flowers from first year globe artichokes to allow roots to build up.