This letter from my front porch first appeared in my local newspaper’s Master Gardener column.
The September garden is what we’ve been waiting for all summer long. In winter, we planned our gardens, in spring we planted them. Through the long, hot summer, we watered and we fertilized. And now, in this space at the end of one season and the beginning of the next, we have time to enjoy, for just a short time, the fruits of our labors.
In September, more than any other month in the growing year, this is the time when I enjoy the most and worry the least about my garden.
To my mind, it’s still too humid and too hot to take on serious planting projects in the garden, like installing shrubs or planting new flower beds. Any vegetables that are going in the raised bed will be slipped in as the summer vegetables are pulled out. And that leaves time to putter, prune and pluck in the garden. And time as well to sit on the porch watching the hummingbirds skim the flower
border, the Gulf fritillary butterflies kiss the zinnias and various wasps descend on the bronze fennel for their mealtime due.
September is a brief window of time before I need to get serious about getting the garden ready for winter. The annual date of first frost in our corner of Georgia is November 7, giving me a little less than two months to enjoy the warm season garden.
Following are my favorite things happening in my September garden. Let me know what your favorites are.
Marigolds
This was the year I discovered that marigolds are incredibly easy to grow from
seed. I grew “Big Duck Orange,” (Tagetes erecta), a real winner, full of fluffy puffs of golden petals. I started the seeds in March and transplanted them late, in mid-June. The Big Ducks started blooming the first week in August and it’s been non-stop color since then. Marigolds can handle a bit of neglect, like a few days without water, and bounce right back. My garden plans for next year includes growing marigolds from seed again.
Basil
My vegetable garden’s been kind of ho-hum this summer. I planted a lot of hopes and dreams, but harvested just two zucchini, a handful of tomatoes and a single pepper. But the basil is still going strong.
I like to use basil a couple of ways. First, when I make homemade garden bouquets for friends, I add lengthy stems of basil along with coleus, hydrangea, zinnias and sprigs of rosemary and lavender.
Another favorite use for basil is in cooking. One summer batch of pesto is enough for my family, instead, I really like adding whole stems of basil to tomato soups and sauces while they cook (I pull it out the limp leaves just before serving).
At the end of the season, I’ll gather up what’s left of the basil in the garden, pull off the leaves and process with a little bit of lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and make a puree. I’ll freeze the puree, pulling it out in winter to flavor soups and stews.
Lettuces
Cooler and wetter weather in September is perfect for growing salad greens.
Lettuce seeds germinate best around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Lettuce seedlings are also available in garden centers right now. To get a quick start on the season, last week, I pulled up my played-out zinnias and transplanted arugula and butter lettuce seedlings in their place.
Lettuce and tender greens like spinach are ideal candidates for succession growing, whereyou sow seeds every week for successive harvests.
Garden spiders
Every fall without fail, I’m tagged in Facebook and asked to identify a “scary
spider” and should it live or die? The pictures are always of yellow garden spiders, the ones my mama taught me to call “writing spiders” because of the bold zig zags in their webs.
Garden spiders are beneficial spiders that will eat other insects; bad insects like mosquitoes. Since my girls were very young, we look for the garden spiders around our house every September and try to give them room to work. After
reading the book “Charlotte’s Web,” we name every spider “Charlotte.” When a garden spider sets up her web near your garden, it means you are doing things right. Let her be, I ask you. Respect the moms in nature and let them do their work in peace.
Swallowtail caterpillars
These black and white striped guys with yellow dots will be butterflies in a few weeks. Right now, I watch them chow down on the parsley in the garden. Growing parsley and other pollinator plants is one of my garden goals each spring, and I’m so pleased with how the parsley worked out. Curly parsley plants grow into a nice, emerald green rounded mound that makes a lovely border for a flower bed.
In fall, mix parsley in with pansies and flowering kales. Parsley is biennial, so it will last in your garden for two years. The parsley I planted last fall bolted in June. I
trimmed down the flower stalks soon after, and left the plants to nurture whatever wildlife they could. The swallowtail caterpillars appeared September 1st.
Caterpillars may seem scary if you don’t know what you’re dealing with. Many are beneficial and because they do good in your garden, take a few minutes to identify any caterpillars (and other insect life, too!) in your garden. A Google search will usually work, and you can always contact your local Extension office with questions about insects.
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