September Gardening Tasks You Ought to Undertake
Typically, this time of year tends to feel like skipped obligations in the garden for me: I'm hurrying to pick, preserve, and prune, turning over plots and trying to get ahead of autumn cleanup. This makes me resent the arrival of September. However, all the work involved in collecting leftovers, gathering seeds, seeding empty spaces, and revamping the plots this month will ensure your garden is in prime condition for the next season. Here's a rundown of gardening tasks you should be tackling in September.
Gleaning
I prefer using the term "gleaning" over "harvesting" this year due to the numerous illnesses and pests that have affected gardens lately. It's a reminder that harvesting your garden's produce is primarily for our benefit, but it also eliminates a source of disease from your beds. After years of advocating for the "chop and drop" method (where you chop down spent plants at ground level and leave them to decompose in situ), it's become common practice in gardening circles to remove yard waste from your garden beds to prevent the spread of soil-borne diseases. Therefore, this year, I'm making an effort to get into my beds and cut down the plants, removing them in the process. Sick plants go straight into the trash, while healthy ones end up in my compost pile. Even though they'll end up in approximately the same place after composting (back in the beds), the heat from the compost pile will kill many of the viruses that might be present.
Seed collection
Instead of letting fruit rot in the beds, it's recommended to be more deliberate about which plants you should propagate for the next growing season. This is where "seed collection" comes in, an endeavor I've taken more seriously in recent years. While the cost of seeds is a valid argument, it's not my main motivation. By choosing the plants that have performed the best in my garden, and continuing to do so year after year, I'm creating my own strain of those plants that are adapted to thrive in my specific environment.
Some plants make seed collection easy: green beans, sunflowers, beans, and peas, for instance. They naturally dry out and fall to the ground, ready for collection. A different group of vegetables require more patience: celery, lettuce, parsley, cilantro, cabbage, fennel, and broccoli. These vegetables need to be allowed to go to seed, which means they bloom and eventually produce seeds. Once the seeds appear, you collect them. They won't be dry—you'll need to spread them out on a plate and allow them to dry in an area with good air circulation (I put them in front of a fan). The nightshades, such as tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers, require even more dedication. These are the most expensive seeds to buy, and saving them is well worth the effort. Find the healthiest plant and sacrifice a perfect fruit. Cut it open and scoop out the seeds, placing them and the accompanying gel-like substance that surrounds the seeds into a jar with a little water. Allow this solution to ferment for a day or two, then drain the seeds using a colander, and dry them out on a sheet of newspaper.
Flower seeds follow the same process. All flowers produce seeds in their own unique ways, from poppies, which store their tiny seeds in dried pods, to foxglove, which releases seeds from its entire stalk. For any flower you want to save seeds for, pay attention at the end of the season to the flowers and learn how to save those seeds specifically.
Seed your empty spaces
September is a great time to sow seeds because of the ideal balance of heat and rain in most areas. If you have a regular lawn, take advantage of the conditions by seeding it now. If you want to overseed your lawn with clover or other ground covers, order your seeds as soon as possible.
Change over your plots
As you bring summer crops to an end, you have to decide what to do with the plots for fall and winter. I'm a strong advocate for year-round gardening, which means planting fall and winter crops now. However, there's also a case to be made for occasionally allowing your plots to rest, even if it's just for a few. In these resting plots, clear the area of weeds exceptionally well, and then add a generous amount of compost and mycorrhizal inoculant (which encourages mycelium growth in the soil). Then, plant a cover crop suitable for your plot. Options include oil driller radish (to break up soil), fava beans (to enrich the soil with nitrogen), clovers, and grasses. Your local nursery will have options tailored to your zone. When spring arrives, chop the cover crops, allow the roots to decompose, and plant your summer crops in the revitalized plot.
Clean up berries
Pick the remaining berries before they spoil and fall to the ground. You can preserve them by freezing them for later use. Alternatively, you can make jams or pies with the ripe berries. If you don't plan on using all the berries, consider sharing them with neighbors or donating them to a local food bank to help those in need.
Though your entire backyard is set for a major tidy-up in the upcoming seasons, I choose to focus on the berry patch first. It's wise to perform this pruning operation while the vines are still distinguishable between fresh green growth and the brown second-year growth that requires cutting. I take care of any misplaced vines, plucking them out, and trim everything down to an approximate height of six feet. I also tuck all the vines neatly back into the trellis. Performing these tasks now guarantees a more abundant and easily reachable fruit yield the following year.
Preliminary tasks
You can jumpstart some other autumn chores, but let's be honest, most folks are still wrapped up in boiling down harvests of vegetables and fruits from their gardens. The time will come for these tasks next month.
Despite my resentment towards the arrival of September due to the increased gardening tasks, I'm excited to start gleaning my homegrown produce this month. This includes cutting down spent plants, removing sick ones, and composting the healthy ones to improve the overall health of my garden for the next season. Additionally, September is an ideal time for seed collection, ensuring a variety of plants that are well-suited to my garden's environment for the upcoming growing season.
