What’s happening in the garden this week: Sept. 15-21

The fall cleanup begins

Sep 20, 2024

Winding down

It’s time to start getting the garden ready for fall. As I’ve written in previous newsletters I’ve already planted cool weather vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, kale and Brussels sprouts in a few of the beds that I hope to harvest well into autumn. But this is the week I began cutting back and removing spent plants, particularly those summer superstars like cucumbers, pole beans and tomatoes, and tidying up beds as they empty. I’ll give them a light raking and then add a couple inches of compost to the top. That way, they’ll be ready to go come spring. Making the garden neat at the end of the season completes the circle that began in the earliest days of spring. Removing dead plants and leaf debris is a good way to keep soil-borne diseases and insect pests at bay, denying them a place to hunker down over the winter. I’ll add some autumn leaves, chopped up by running my lawn mower over them, to the top of some of the beds in a few weeks, particularly the ones with raspberries, strawberries and asparagus. Instead of leaves I sometimes add a layer of straw from the straw bales where the tomatoes have been growing. Leaves and straw are great composting materials and will enrich the soil and keep it warmer when the temperatures drop.

Perennial cleanup

Cleaning up our perennial beds requires a somewhat different strategy. We’re selective about which flowers we prune back for the winter and which ones we leave in place. Basically, we try to leave any plants with flower heads that appeal to birds and autumn pollinating insects. This includes Coneflowers, Asters (which are only now coming into full bloom), Sedum and Hyssop. The other plants we leave in place are those with hollow, woody stems. Nesting bees such as mason bees, solitary wasps and leafcutting bees use hollow-stemmed plants to lay eggs and hibernate over the winter. Other beneficial insects like spiders seek shelter in them as well. Plants with hollow stems include Joe Pye Weed, Milkweed, Mountain Mint, Sunflowers and Iron Weed. There’s a benefit to us as well, as these plants provide a great visual element to an otherwise barren landscape during the winter months.

Pumpkins and Squash

I stuck a fingernail into a pumpkin growing in the garden the other day and the skin seemed tough. That’s a signal it’s time to harvest our pumpkins and winter squash. I’m going to plan on doing just that over the weekend so I can get to them before the squirrels or birds decide to have a taste.

Verdura Vita

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