September Garden

The garden is fading, as September gardens do. 

Gone are the tomatoes, the melon vines, the cucumber vines. The nasturtium has taken over an entire bed. The cosmos succumbed to blight, the zinnias continue to struggle. I'll enjoy the dahlias and snapdragons until the frost that will wipe out the dahlias once and for all at some point in October. I really felt like I found the right combination and balance in the garden this year. Even though not everything did well, I plan on repeating it next year and hoping for the best. 

Tomatoes (or where they used to be) 

The tomatoes were pulled up at the very end of August as I mentioned in last month's garden update. I was tired of feeding the chipmunks and there weren't many green tomatoes left either. Last year the tomatoes were overabundant, but this year, not so much. The pollinators love the marigolds and borage, so those will stay until frost. I think I'll repeat the same varieties next year (2 paste, 2 cherry sweet 100s, 1 tappy heritage, 1 early girl and 2 bushsteak hybrid) and hope for better results. 

Vines and Things

I pulled up the cucumber and melon vines mid-September. I picked the last of the cucumbers and the melons had already finished. Now the nasturtium has taken over and the chard is shining bright. The carrots will get pulled up in October. I skipped mini pumpkins in this bed this year and I missed them. I tried them elsewhere in the yard, but the vine was eaten. The garden is the safest place for them to grow, however they attract squash vine borers and I'm trying to break the cycle of infestation by skipping all squashes/pumpkins for a while. If I hold strong another year, it would help even more. But I wish we had grown some now that Autumn is here. 

Mixed Flowers

The snapdragons are producing less flowers as the month goes on, the cooler temps and shorter days signaling the season will soon wrap up. There are still blooms, but handfuls instead of bucketfuls. The cosmos withered away from blight, but there were lots of beautiful flowers all summer. The zinnias continue to limp along - these are usually my easiest flower to grow but this year wasn't their year. The globe amaranth did much better with a corner placement. Next year I will plant this bed exactly the same (hopefully with happier zinnias). 

Dahlias

This was a MUCH better year for dahlias that last year. I didn't have to spray anything with insecticidal soap or neem oil (which I really hated doing because it's bad for the pollinators). I had lots of gorgeous blooms. The plants are so tall now that they are snapping branches in our many heavy rainstorms. It's been a much needed good year - after last year's mite infestation I was ready to give up. This year has renewed my love of the flowers! 

Herbs and Strawberries

The herbs all did really well except for the basil, and that was probably weather related. The purple sunflower was a nice change of pace over the giant sunflowers I usually plant here, it kept blooming  through the summer. The oregano needs to be cut way back in the late fall/ early spring - it's trying to take over the bed again. 

The rosemary bush will be harvested and put into a pot in the green house. There are two lavenders in this bed, one I'll cage and cover with leaves, the other I'll dig up and overwinter in the greenhouse like I did last year. The sage will be harvested and transplanted into a greenhouse pot as well. The thyme, oregano and strawberries will be overwintered here. The chamomille, calendula, borage, dill and sunflowers will start fresh again next year from seed. 

Pots

The pots did well. The small snapdragons kept blooming on and off all season. The morning glory actually is doing better than previous years by far, I'm hoping to see blooms in early October. The hot peppers are the perfect level of spicy and abundant. The lemon balm was abundant. The only plant I had issues with was the patio tomato in a pot and that was mostly due to the chipmunks. Even the potted dahlias are blooming, which doesn't always happen because my dahlias have never been very happy in pots. 

Elsewhere in the Yard

September brought elderberries! A lot of elderberries, even though the birds love them too. I did not anticipate how difficult they are to get off the stems (which are apparently toxic, great). I read a tutorial to freeze them first, which did help make it easier for about 5-10 minutes... then the berries thawed! So they have to be done in small batches. Luckily they seem to only ripen a few bunches at a time, so as long as I don't let them pile up in the chest freezer we're good to go.

There are a lot of figs on the fig tree right now, but we've only had a few ripe ones. I have a feeling there will be quite a few in October as long as the frost holds off. Fingers crossed!

I had a surprise this week - a handful of raspberries hidden in the raspberry thicket in late September. I was looking for a lost ball and I've never seen this before, we usually get one big harvest in June and that's it! I'm surprised the birds found this before I did! 

Also I just need to share my dark pink anemone, because it is blooming right now in the back and it's GORGEOUS. This anemone is so polite compared to my light pink ones, compact and covered in blooms but doesn't try to take over.