Oct 2, 2014
To all the lovely people,
Welcome to fall. I hope you all had a great summer garden season. We are bringing in buckets of tomatoes and apples - juicing the apples mostly but we are also enjoying apple crisp and pie. The juice has been excellent - I usually add a carrot or two, one hot pepper, and maybe a kale leaf to each gallon and freeze it in 1/2 gallon jars. We also have a lot of different varieties of hot peppers and we will be roasting, drying, and trying fermenting with some this year. I have small fall garden in and will be planting our garlic in a few weeks. After the first rain we will plant our cover crop.
Please write if you have any questions or comments.
Paul McCollum
Zone 9
- For spring bloom, broadcast wildflower seeds over soil that has been lightly cultivated.
- Plant fast-growing, frost-resistant veggies: radishes, mustard, spinach, ‘Tokyo Market' turnips, and corn salad.
- Divide and transplant bearded irises, daylilies, phlox, cannas, and Shasta daisies.
- Harvest sweet potatoes after tops wither, but before the first hard frost.
- Harvest winter squash, pumpkins, and peanuts before frost.
- Clean up fallen fruit in the orchard.
- Build a hot compost pile to kill pathogens lurking in garden debris: Use a high-nitrogen material, such as grass clippings or seafood shells.
Zone 10
- Set out transplants of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.
- Mulch and water well—dry spells this month can last a week or longer.
- Finish pruning fruit trees so new sprouts can harden before cold arrives.
- Plant colorful bloomers, such as sweet alyssum, begonias, petunias, and pansies.
- Prepare beds for planting roses; plant them late this month.
- Fertilize plants that flower in winter.
- Plant strawberries and brassicas (except brussels sprouts—it's too warm) early in the month.
- In midmonth, direct-seed root crops and beans.
- Near the end of the month, sow lettuce, spinach, and other greens.
