Lawns and other parts of the garden can often look a little worse for wear in September after the hot weather dies down.

To restore your garden back to its former glory and bring it back to life, gardening guru Monty Don has detailed essential garden tasks to tackle this month.

The horticultural maestro regularly updates his followers on the key jobs for the month, and this time around, he’s urging gardeners to get busy with pruning roses and raspberries, as well as ensuring those green tomatoes ripen up nicely.

But it’s not just about the plants as Monty insists that September is prime time for some serious lawn love.

No matter the state of your grass, the 69-year-old urged that it is “always” important to aerate it at this time of year.

Aeration is the process of poking small, long holes into the ground to provide the soil with good air circulation and improve the grassroots water and nutrient consumption.

Air circulation is very important as it lets stale carbon dioxide out, in turn, making room for fresh new oxygen to go in.

Lawn aeration also helps break through piled-up thatch in high-maintenance lawns and reduces lawn compaction, which is the main cause of moss.

To carry out this task, Monty said: “You can use a fork by working the tines into the ground at 12-inch intervals or, for a larger lawn, hire a rolling hollow tine or slitter. Ideally, this is followed by working sand into the holes they create with a stiff brush.”

After, “give the grass a tough scratch” with a wire rake, to remove all the thatch and moss and whilst it will look a little threadbare this autumn, next spring “your lawn will be rejuvenated” and even appear “thicker”.

For those just looking to repair patches of worn-down lawn, Monty recommends raking away all thatch and moss, removing all weeds, thinly scattering grass seed, watering well and keeping it damp. 

He said: “The seed should germinate and grow in days. Do not mow it for at least a month and if it looks unsightly going into winter clip the new growth with shears.”

For larger areas, Monty suggests giving the edges a neat trim with a sharp spade before forking over to alleviate compaction and then either scattering seeds or fitting a piece of turf snugly into place.

When laying new turf, he highlights the importance of avoiding foot traffic or mowing until the grass shows signs of strong growth, which indicates well-established roots. If the weather turns sour, you might have to hold off on the grass cutting until next spring.