September Planting Guide: Ideal Vegetables and Flowers to Sow or Transplant for a Successful Fall Garden
September Garden Magic
Get a kickstart on your spring garden by planting in September! This timing allows for an early crop and utilizes the otherwise barren soil. Here's what you can sow or plant in the UK during this month:
- Vegetables: Sow spinach, salad leaves, broad beans, peas, radishes, turnips, onions, and garlic for an earlier harvest next year. Cover them with fleece or cloches when frost is forecast. Check out our favorite Best Garden Hand Trowels to help you with your planting task - perfect for handling those root veggies!
- Fruits: Plant strawberries now and peach trees in pots. Strawberries will establish before winter and fruit from mid-spring, while peach trees, flowering as early as February, can be well-established by the time they need to bloom.
- Flowers: Sow English marigold, love-in-a-mist, cornflower, queen Anne's lace, poppies, California poppy, daffodils, and crocuses for a vibrant display next year.
- Trees and Shrubs: Plant roses, crab apple trees, and other hardy trees and shrubs in containers for a robust spring growth.
Don't forget to use your Darlac Bamboo Garden Trowel for a comfortable and eco-friendly gardening experience this September!
You'll need:
- Tools, pots and supports: Get the Darlac Bamboo Garden Trowel, the premier choice for comfortable gardening tasks - perfect for transplanting and preparing soil.
- Greenhouse: If you're considering getting a greenhouse, check out our handy guides on how to choose the best greenhouse, for a selective shopping experience tailored to your needs.
- Cold Frames: Protect your plants from frost and heavy rains with the best garden cold frames of 2025. Find them in our expertly curated round-up.
- Indoor Greenhouses: No outside space? No problem! Discover the best indoor greenhouses suited for growing plants indoors.
Vegetables to Grow
Spinach
Harvest: March to May.
Grow: Sow hardy varieties, such as 'Giant Winter' directly in shallow drills in well-prepared soil, or in pots. Cover with fleece or a low cloche from October onwards to protect from frost.
Salad Leaves
Harvest: October to May.
Grow: Sow hardy salad crops, such as mustard leaf, mizuna, and lambs' lettuce in a sheltered spot outdoors, or in pots. Keep covered with fleece or a cloche as temperatures drop.
Broad Beans
Harvest: May to June.
Grow: Sow broad beans now, and they'll save you time on spring planting. Choose winter-hardy varieties like 'Aquadulce Claudia', cover with a cloche when frost is forecast, and wait until the end of September to sow them in the south of UK, to prevent them growing too tall.
Peas
Harvest: May to June.
Grow: Like broad beans, hardy peas can be sown in September to overwinter and produce an early crop. Choose winter-hardy varieties like 'Douce Provence' or 'Meteor' and cover with a cloche when frost is forecast.
Radish
Harvest: October.
Grow: Sow radish seeds direct on well-prepared, weed-free soil. Cover with a cloche when temperatures fall, harvest for autumn salads, and reap the benefits!
Turnip
Harvest: November to December.
Grow: Sow turnips direct on to well-prepared, weed-free soil. Keep well watered and thin seedlings to 15cm. Harvest as golf-ball sized, baby veg in around six weeks. Don't forget to leave some for Christmas!
Onions
Harvest: June to July.
Grow: Plant autumn onion sets, such as 'Shakespeare', 'Electric' or 'Snowball' sets to overwinter, for an earlier crop the following year. Plant them 10-15cm apart, allowing 30cm between rows, into well-prepared, moisture-retentive, fertile soil in full sun.
Garlic
Harvest: June to July.
Grow: Plant garlic cloves 2.5cm deep and 25cm apart, in well-prepared, fertile soil. Shoots should appear before autumn and overwinter, then put on fresh growth in spring.
Fruit to Grow
Strawberries
Harvest: June to September.
Grow: Plant bare-root strawberries now and they'll establish well in the still-warm soil, before going dormant in winter and fruiting from mid-spring.
Peaches
Harvest: July to August.
Grow: Plant peach trees now – bare-root plants aren't available until November – in well-prepared soil in a sunny position. Water thoroughly, and protect the flowers from frost with a covering of fleece.
Flowers to Grow
English Marigold (Calendula officinalis)
Flowers: May onwards.
Grow: English marigold (Calendula) has deep orange petals and can be easily grown from an autumn sowing, resulting in flowers from May. Sow in shallow drills or on the surface of moist peat-free compost, in pots or directly where you want it to bloom.
Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damascena)
Flowers: May onwards.
Grow: Nigella damascena (love-in-a-mist) is a cottage garden favorite and makes a lovely cut flower. Sow in modules for planting out later, or direct sow where it is to flower (either the soil or in pots).
Cornflower
Flowers: May onwards.
Grow: cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus) often form part of pictorial and annual meadow schemes. Sow in September for an early spring display.
Queen Anne's Lace (Ammi majus)
Flowers: May onwards.
Grow: Ammi majus is best sown in autumn, resulting in bigger, better flowers in early summer. It bears clouds of cow-parsley like flowers and is perfect for cutting. Sow direct where it is to flower or in modules for planting out later.
Poppies
Flowers: May onwards.
Grow: Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum, pictured), field poppy (Papaver rhoeas) and ladybird poppy (Papaver commutatum) can all be sown in autumn for an early summer display. Sow poppies direct on patches of bare soil or in modular seed trays to plant out in spring.
California Poppy
Flowers: May onwards
Grow: California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) brings swathes of bright orange-yellow to borders. Sow direct in well-prepared, weed-free soil. Water when dry.
Daffodils
Flowers: February to April
Grow: September is the ideal month to plant daffodil bulbs, as they can put on growth before temperatures dip, and then send shoots up as soon as temperatures increase again in late winter. Plant them in borders or pots.
Crocus
Flowers: February to March
Grow: Like daffodils, crocus corms should be planted in September, so they can establish before winter sets in. Plant them 7-12cm deep, in well-prepared, weed-free borders, or pots of fresh multi-purpose compost. Cover with wire mesh to protect from squirrels.
To nurture a vibrant home-and-garden lifestyle, make sure to incorporate gardening into your September activities. Plant English marigold, love-in-a-mist, cornflower, queen Anne's lace, poppies, California poppy, and daffodils to create a colorful display next year. Don't forget, your trusted Darlac Bamboo Garden Trowel will make your gardening tasks more comfortable and eco-friendly.
