What's happenin' in the late September edible garden

Cactus zinnias on right and Flame cock's comb on right
Saturday, September 30, 2023

We are having a very dry September again this year.  In the past, we could depend on the rains starting by mid-september and supplemental watering being pretty well over until next summer.  Our temperatures are above average as well, with low humidity.  Tomatoes, peppers, beans and squash all love this type of weather.  

Tomatoes, peppers, beans and squash all love this type of weather if you make sure they have enough to drink.  I am getting a bumper crop of beans right now.  I have many peppers just waiting to ripen, lots of flowers and baby tomatoes, and many baby squash and flowers on my Trombetta squash.

The shallots I planted a month or so ago are all up.  Herbs are doing well.  The basil is in full bloom.  I do need to do a cutting of my basil and make some pesto before frost hits and my basil all dies.

Cardinal basil in forefront and Genovese basil in background

The winter lettuce seed I planted about 10 days ago has sprouted and most have their first set of leaves.  When they get their next set of leaves, I will start transplanting them into their winter pots which I will cover with a portable greenhouse cover.

If you are a garlic lover, October is prime time to plant your garlic for next summer's harvest.  I save the biggest cloves from my summer harvest to plant in the fall.  Unfortunately, the early warm up followed by frigid temperatures killed the garlic I have in a large pot.  I did find some volunteers that survived in the old spot in the garden bed I had been growing garlic this summer.  I transplanted them into a new bed.  Hopefully, they will come up later this fall.  I do have my eye on one or two new varieties that I'm looking forward to trying next year.

My potted sprouting broccoli, Ruby Streaks mustard, tatsoi and chard are very nice sized so we'll have them for winter salads and braised greens.  I also have several volunteer celery plants in pots that will do well under cover all winter.  

My cactus zinnias and cock's comb did really well this year.  I'm sure I will have many volunteers come up next year.  I'll look later in the fall to collecting some cactus zinnia seeds from each color (gold, orange, fuchsia, peach, and yellow).  I had started the cactus zinnias from seed in early summer..  It was a combo pack of different colors and looking at the flowers, different sizes.  They were all pretty and just bloom continuously.  One plant produced huge orange flowers!  Definitely need to save some of those seeds.

Fuschia pin cushion zinnia

Hummingbird vine, Heavenly morning glory, and Red Malabar spinach volunteer vines went a little crazy this summer.  Next year, I'll need to thin them back much more than I did this year!

My husband has been busy hauling in dirt from our pasture to backfill around the addition we put on.  I am looking forward to getting my southern exposure flower beds back!  Right now, I have been temporarily growing in the beds at the back of the house, which is northern exposure.  We don't have alot of garden bed space in back so about half of my veggies have been grown in pots.  I only have the tomatoes, shallots, squash and garlic in the ground; everything else is in pots.

I do like growing Egyptian Walking Onions, eggplant and peppers in pots so will continue to do so.  Tomatoes, pole beans, squash, okra, cucumbers, corn, garlic and melons all are more productive in the ground.  You can still do well in pots using compact varieties, but smaller plants do mean smaller yields.

Pretty soon, it will time to reflect back on this year's garden, see how much I was able to can, pickle, dry and put away in the freezer to develop next year's garden plan.  It is best to do at the end of the season when all is still fresh in your mind.  It is also a great time to write up the list of things you'd like to learn more about over the winter to try in next year's edible garden.