September is a meddlesome month for committed pabulum gardeners . Tasks let in harvesting , cleaning up , final planting for fall ,   early winter harvest time , and enshroud harvest planting for beds that are finished for the time of year . We ’ll touch on each area to aid you plan your action .

Harvesting

Many summertime vegetable plantings will be reaching the end of their fertile spirit . It is a judgement call on when to stop the harvest and remove flora . It count on plant condition , pest impingement and intent for that garden space ’s next form . Picking when fruits and vegetable are untried can help keep plants going a bit longer . item like tomatoes can be picked before full ripe to minimize pest legal injury , while maintaining most “ summer tomato ” qualities . There are a bit of way toripen dark-green tomatoes off the vine .

This is also the prison term to consider how to optimize late time of year herb harvest . sneak flowers will facilitate prolong leaf production . Plants can be dug up and potted , or cut and root to be moved indoors . instead , they can be cut for quick use orpreserved by freezing or dry .

plant

In our local hardiness zone 7a , some give rise and vegetables can be institute through mid - September . These include common beet , kale , collard , mustard , kohlrabi , leeks , lettuce , radish , spinach and Brassica rapa . The earlier they are planted the better , since growth will slow as Day shorten and temperature drop .

Pests like scratch worms bear on to attack genus Brassica including kale and collards until the first rime . Protecting new planting with a row cover can minimize pest damage while offering a 4 - 5 degree temperature welfare and longer growing full stop after frost . Check out this Garden Shed clause forsimple row top construction ideas .

Preparing Beds for Winter

If you are finish for the yr , it is skilful to do a few things to prepare layer for next spring . First task is to good clean up the garden area . Removing spent plant material is essential to downplay wintering - over pesterer and disease - carrying botany . It is best to bag and throw away of any plant stuff that might harbor pest or diseases .

Once cleaned , it is good to add constituent subject in the configuration of compost , mulched leaf litter , or organic fertilizer , providing decomposition time to make nutrients plant - accessible by next planting time of year . If you are n’t planting a covering crop , mulch beds with an organic mulch like straw , chop up leafage or ripened Sir Henry Wood micro chip

Best drill is to found a cover crop and keep live beginning in the stain year round . Cover crops bestow several benefit admit build soil body structure , reduce erosion and compaction , subdue weeds , add together constituent matter , and in the showcase of legumes , fixing atmospheric nitrogen for plant life use . There are a couple of basic cover crop choices : winter - obliterate and winter - hardy .

If you are planning a fresh garden or garden expansion for next class , now is a full prison term to set about preparing your soil . Tilling to remove or forget surface vegetation , total constitutional subject , and mulching or brood cropping prior to wintertime will put you in good shape next year . The picture above shows my own expansion . I turned the surface Gunter Wilhelm Grass under to add some badly need organic topic to my cadaver undersoil . Planting a cover crop this month is the next whole step .

More selective information on cover crops can be found in early Garden Shed articles includingCover Cropsfrom September 2015 andMinimum Till Cultivationfrom the February 2019 issue .

General Tips

Garlicis well planted during October . Now is a good time to buy cum bulb before local retailers sell out . net supplier offer more variety for experimenters or gourmands . For additional information , ascertain out the clause on produce garlic in theOctober 2015 yield ofGarden Shed .

Give your tomato plantsone last alimentation . Compost tea or Pisces the Fishes emulsion should give them the extra energy they need to make that final push at the end of the time of year . Pinching off small unripe tomato and any new flowerswill channel the plant ’s energy into ripening the remaining full - size yield .

If you ’ve been lax in yourgarden documentationthis year , tour your own vegetable garden and   make notes   on this yr ’s change , successes , challenge and chores , so that you could learn for next year .   Make a sketch   usher the location of this class ’s plant to be used next spring for rotating your crop , an important pest and disease management praxis .

Continue to weedyour garden to prevent the green goddess from going to seminal fluid and germinating over the winter and spring . Keepthestrawberry patchweed free . Every weed you rend will help make weeding easy next spring .

nibble pearswhen green and “ hard ripe ” — allowing them to end ripen off the tree diagram . Store in a cool , gloomy place to ripen .

arrest peach tree trunksand just below the land at their base for woodborer cakehole . Probe any gob with a conducting wire to kill the borers .

get rid of two - year - old canesfromraspberry and blackberry plantsat ground grade to reduce overwintering of disease . fertiliser containing K , daystar and atomic number 12 or calcium can be applied but do not cultivate or water at this time of the class .

Fall mourning band controlaround yield treesis crucial becauseweeds act as hosts to overwintering insects .

Plant lavenderseeds in the tumble for spring germination .

Whatever you do or do n’t do , bask the fall gardening season . cool weather , reflect on the past time of year , and make preparation for a near next class can be very satisfying . This yr , specially , our garden have been a valued diversion . See you next month atThe Garden Shed .

Sources :

“ Gardening by Month – September , ”   Missouri Botanical Garden , http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org / gardens - gardening / your - garden / aid - for - the - household - nurseryman / advice - tip - resource / gardening - by - month / september.aspx

“ Monthly Horticulture Tip Sheets — Herbs , September , ”   Va. Coop . Ext . Albemarle / Charlottesville , https://albemarle.ext.vt.edu / content / dam / albemarle_ext_vt_edu / files / hort - confidential information - sheets/9 - 14 - herbs.pdf

“ Monthly Horticulture Tip Sheets — Fruit and Nuts , September , ”   Va. Coop . Ext . Albemarle / Charlottesville , https://albemarle.ext.vt.edu / mental object / dekameter / albemarle_ext_vt_edu / files / hort - tip - sheets/9 - 14 - fruits - nuts.pdf

Virginia ’s Vegetable Planting Guide : https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu / content / dam / pubs_ext_vt_edu/426/426 - 331 / SPES-170.pdf