September – and my first-born begins HIGH SCHOOL. Did I say the words High School, cause I’m pretty sure I said Kindergarten just the other day.
On the upside, it’s September here in New England, which means we get a bit more summer hidden in between cooler spells – the warm weather feels like we’re cheating winter and that’s A-OK with me.
September is also strangely satisfying. The kids go back to school and a regular schedule that my OCD self looooooves has been re-introduced and my garden is mass-producing produce. The chickens are being stuffed daily with gifts from the garden and getting spoiled horribly, and I’ve begun canning continuously.
In addition, I’ve discovered two new food dishes that I love. Kale chips {Mavis is a huge fan hahaha}! I ate a whole tray before I knew what happened {ps: don’t eat a whole tray, it’ll upset your stomach}, it was soo good though and I love the texture! And breakfast burritos. Now that the boy is a freshman and has a very demanding schedule with classes, late and early hockey practices- his sleep will be very… well, odd. So, I figured, the least I could do is feed him a not-cereal breakfast in the morning. By altering the recipe to his taste buds a bit, with no potatoes and adding banana peppers, he christened it delicious and I made a whole batch that are happily frozen and ready for Monday morning. Score one for mom. I think I’ll try Mavis’s Egg & Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches next. I’m pretty sure he’ll love those too.
Seeds I’m Starting Indoors this Month
Not having any fresh veggies over the winter has become an intolerable thought. And although my yard would not support {either in space or position to the sun} a greenhouse, I’ve decided on a cold frame. I’m thinking I can add to my garden box to create a cold frame. Step 1: create yet another project for myself {done}. Step 2: collect supplies {I’ve hunted down some old windows}. Step 3: Build {uuuuugggh}. I’ll keep you posted. Did I mention I’ve already planted some lettuce? I, eeer, ummm, the HH better get crackin!
What I Plan to Transplant Outside this Month
I’ve got a bit of transplanting to do this month. I’ve got a few plants I’d like to add, split and generally re-arrange. Hostas and other local perennials do well to be divided every 2-3 years. If you just can’t use them put the call out to your friends and give them away. I have a couple of local FB groups that focus on gardens/environment and can always find someone who would like to use them.
Plants and/or Bulbs I Plan to Purchase this Month
I’m still hatching a plan to convince the HH that apple trees {only TWO} would look good in our unused “side yard” in our suburbia neighborhood. Wish me luck as I hatch mission: apple pie.
Keep a close eye on local plant nurseries this month, this time of year they’ll want to clear out their stock and prepare for spring deliveries. Last year I bought three {5 year} blueberry bushes and three container raspberries bushes for 50% off!! Total score.
What I Plan to Harvest This Month
Holy smokes – what won’t I harvest. I’m on my 5th basket {each 14lbs} of plum tomatoes, which happens to be enough for a full crock-pot of peeled and chopped tomatoes that yields 5-6 pints of canned tomato sauce. So the tomato sauce stash is looking pretty good so far. And I’ve got another one sitting on the counter waiting for me.
I’ve been faithfully collecting and drying herbs all summer including mint, chocolate mint, chamomile and lemon balm for teas, and oregano, thyme, and rosemary for cooking.
Jalapenos – do I have jalapenos. Yes, the answer is yes. Bags and bags of cut, seeded, sliced, rinsed and frozen jalapenos. The HH is borderline gleeful over my stockpile of jalapenos.
Corn. Although I don’t have the space to grow corn, I have visited the farmer down the street for five dozen ears and have shucked, cooked, cut and frozen bags of corn.
Potatoes. The potatoes did pretty well in my raised garden box, and I got about a dozen big-sized potatoes, which is enough for Thanksgiving dinner. And a boatload of small sized potatoes, which will be perfect for breakfast potatoes. Overall I’ve decided that potatoes are just too cheap and my garden space just too small to use a whole garden box for a few dozen potatoes, so next year I’ll re-allocate the box to something I can freeze or can.
Carrots – of the few that made it to full-grown carrot size have really blossomed. They are huge. I plan on digging them up for Thanksgiving dinner.
Volunteerism in a great thing. These cucumbers, however, might very well grow legs and take over the universe. Check this out – incredible. There are mini cucs growing now so we’ll see how they do over the next month.
Remember the winter sowing experiment I did last winter? Well, I am totally doing it again – it worked like a charm! I grew an entire bed of perennial bloom seeds which has created a nice little border of wild flowers for my garden. And the beginning of my lavender hedge is looking pre-tt-y good also. Next year I expect these two sections to really take off!
Chickens
Now is a good time before it gets too cold to give the coop a good, thorough, cleaning. Over the year I have continuously thrown in bags of leaves and/or straw for the chickens to play in, when you add leftover chix scraps and chicken poo, you end up with rockin’ compost. Scoop all that out and add it to an empty garden bed, then restock the coop with more leaves and/or straw. Check your coop for signs of insects, critters or anything else unsavory and take measures to remedy it. Note to self; that hawk sitting on the tree stump licking it’s chops over your chickens is not there for a playdate – now is also the time to repair the coop/roof and secure the pen if needed.
Houseplants and Indoor Bulbs
There are definitely some things to be done around here in this arena. I just realized there are plants I got when the boy was a baby – 15 years these plants have been kickin’ around in the same pots, in the same soil. Re-potting and dividing these monsters may not get done in September, as I am currently swimming in tomatoes, but it’s on my list. If you’ll be re-potting too, make sure to use a sterile potting soil, not garden/compost soil. If you are good about watering your houseplants, the compost soils retain too much water and the plants rot. If you’re like me, and water sparingly, the compost soil will accumulate too many salts and die.
Trees and Shrubs
After a severe scale infestation last winter, my lil lemon tree has recuperated and doing great! Look how nice and lush he looks.
Weed and Pest Control
Weeding the front walk is absolutely no fun. We’ve thought about paving it, but the sewer entrance is directly under it. I’ve sprayed it with the vinegar combo {1 gallon of vinegar + 2 cups of Epson salt + 2 tbls of dish soap, shake and spray} and it works really well. But I’ve found the best weed control – are my kids. Come home late from curfew? Go weed. Talk back and/or general disrespect? Go weed. Don’t do your chores? Go weed. Weeding worked for me {although now I find it a bit of a zenning moment} and it’ll work for them. Guess I should call my mom, she’s sure to find that hilarious.
Lawn Care
This is a big month for the lawn; it’s generally time to prepare it for next spring. Just as you will put your garden “to bed”, the same thing goes for the lawn. Keep in mind that mid Oct. is your end date. So September is the time to get everything done. Aerate {core is better than pine} and seed. Then fertilize.
How is your garden going? Because I’ll be rotating crops and removing some {like potatoes} and adding another box of a successful crop {plum tomatoes} I’m wondering… what was your most successful and/or useful crop?
I’m off to pick, cut, clean, steam, pack, and can veggies…
**These garden chores are based on my Zone 5b Southeast/Boston MA location. Find your garden zone HERE.
Teri says
Your tomatoes are gorgeous! I’m still waiting for mine to get red! Zucchini did well for me.
Heather from MA says
Hi Teri, these are Roma’s I started in January under lights and put out in early spring under a hoop house built onto my garden boxes. I have beefsteaks also that volunteered themselves from an old compost location that are decent sized, but still green.
Angie says
I thought my tomatoes weren’t going to make it as I was waiting, and waiting…and waiting for them to turn and they just weren’t. So in a panic – and upon sighting a good deal, I bought 50 lbs of Roma’s for 14$. I canned one box turning it into salsa and sauce. Well….now, I just picked 20 lbs of tomatoes off my plants within the past week, and still have a box of the purchased ones to can – I dug myself a tomato hole LOL.
Heather from MA says
One can never have too many tomatoes! And come January when it’s dark out and cold, you just don’t feel like cooking – that homemade sauce will be sitting on the shelf smiling at you 🙂
Dale says
That is a Beautiful Boston Garden.
My Girlfriend and I just canned 50 lbs. of tomatoes for sauce and another 15 lbs. for salsa. I have Hubbard squash the size of basketballs hanging from the fence. The cucumbers are going absolutely crazy and everything else is fantastic. This is the best garden I have ever had here in Olympia Washington. A lot of thanks goes out to you Mavis for all the advice and inspiration. I think my favorite part of this is getting up early (5:30 am), and walking down to the Garden (Head Lamp On) to collect all the vegies to make fresh a salad for my girlfriend before she leaves at 6:15 for work. There is nothing better then preparing food for someone you love.
Thanks again
Heather from MA says
Thank you Dale! Tonight the sun was going down fast at 6:30 (le’sigh) – that headlamp idea is BRILLIANT! I too, have learned A LOT from Mavis in the last year. The gardening is a given, but I also learned a lot of cooking techniques/tip/tricks that I didn’t know.
Kori F says
What do you with the frozen jalapeno’s? This is my first year getting any to ripen and now I have a ton!!! Thanks!
Heather from MA says
Hi Kori – my husband seems to think he has a steel stomach and eats copious amounts of salsa. He also has plans to stuff them with some sort of cream cheese recipe. If it turns out well I’d help him mass produce and freeze them 🙂 we’ll see.
Cecily says
How big is your potato bed? Mine this year was 3×7 and I harvested 44 pounds of French Fingerling and Rose Finn Apple potatoes. I agree that it’s a waste of space to grow standard potato varieties when they are so cheap in the store. The gourmet varieties are another story. Here in the PNW fingerlings go for $3 a pound or more so I grew $130+ this year. It may be worth it to take another go at potatoes if you were to grow some gourmet varieties.
Heather in MA says
Whaw-ow! 44 POUNDS?! In a 3×7 bed! Way to go! My beds are all either 4×4 or two together (4×8). I did regular ol’ poatoes and the plants were big, dark green, lush and bushy. I’m thinking maybe there wasn’t enough depth (started out at 8″ but settled over thesummer to 6″). Who knows maybe I’ll try again – come spring I always want to grow everything! 😉