Improve grass growth by topdressing the lawn, spreading a mix of sharp sand, good garden soil and sieved compost over the lawn with the back of a rake.

Sow winter lettuce seeds in shallow drills and cover with cloches.

Pick pumpkins, leaving them in the sun for several days or putting them in a greenhouse if it’s raining, and let them ripen and dry off before being put into storage.

Sow hardy annuals such as cornflowers and poached eggplants outside for flowering next year.

Give hedges a final trim.

Plant bearded, beardless and bulbous irises in prepared sites.

Cut back the stems of Jerusalem artichokes.

Prepare to insulate the greenhouse using bubble wrap or other polythene, keeping ventilators free to air the area if necessary.

Reduce the watering and feeding of all greenhouse plants.

Stop feeding permanent plants in pots such as shrubs and trees.

Continue to plant winter and spring bedding, such as polyanthus, into gaps left by cleared summer annuals.

Prune repeat-flowering oldfashioned shrub and species roses, other than those grown for hips, when the last flush of flowers is over.

Continue to pick apples and store them somwhere dry.

As greenhouse crops come to an end pull them out and replace them with overwintering tender perennials.