Getting Dirty in September ~ Fall Garden Calendar

Getting Dirty in September ~ Fall Garden Calendar

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Just because summer is over it doesn’t mean it’s time to put away your gloves and trowel. In fact, September is a great time of year to garden and the right time to start sowing seeds for  your fall/winter garden. The soil is still warm from the summer sun which encourages newly planted seeds and plants to grow strong and fast. I’m still hopelessly hoping we will get those broccoli seeds in amidst our busy start to the school year because there is nothing like harvesting your own home grown greens.

  • PLANT
  • START IN FLATS
  • FERTILIZE
  • And other random things to do….

V= Vegetable, H= Herbs, A= Annuals, P= Perennials, B= Bulbs, T= Trees

*This calendar is based on Northern California gardening so keep in mind that planting times vary depending on location.

DIRECT SOW SEEDS INTO THE GARDEN

V: beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, chard, Chinese cabbage, collards, cucumber, endive, garlic, greens, kale, leek, lettuce leaf, oriental leaf crops, parsley, pepper, potatoes, radishes, salad mixes, shallot, sorrel, spinach, summer squash, tomato, turnip, winter squash

H: chicory, mustard

A: wildflowers (after real first rain)

Sow lawn seeds

START IN FLATS– outside, in a greenhouse or in a cold-frame

V: bok choi, cabbage, endive, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, onions

PLANT STARTS DIRECTLY INTO THE GARDEN

V:  broccoli, early garlic, lettuce, mesclun, salad mix, spinach

A: calendulas, coastal cineraria, delphinium, dianthus, forget me-not, foxglove, larkspur, nemesia, phlox, penstemon, schizanthus, violas

P: asters, chrysanthemums, daisy, gaillardia, gloriosa, purple coneflower, salvias

B: anemone, crocus, daffodils, tulips

*This time of year is also a good time to plant shrubs, ground covers, grasses, lawns, and landscape trees

FERTILIZE -N-P-K

Feed citrus, acid loving plants, and deciduous fruit trees with monthly doses of potassium and phosphorous

Feed roses

Add fish emulsion or kelp-fish mix every 2-4 weeks

PRUNE

Do not prune woody perennials but deadhead everything

Trim bearded iris leaves to 8” high, divide perennials like agapanthus, candytuft, coreopsis, daylily and penstemon if overgrown or not flowering.

MULCH – WATER –SOIL

Add compost to soil before planting annuals, perennials and fall planted veggies

Water citrus deeply

Essentials to watering a 4- by 5-foot garden bed to a depth of 2 feet (the average depth perennial roots get in clay soil with hose delivering 2-3 gallons per minute) requires a good half hour of steady sprinkling.

OTHER RANDOM THINGS TO DO…

  • Buy and refrigerate tulips, hyacinths
  • Clean up dropped fruits, and leaves
  • Keep weeding
  • Buy spring flowering bulbs
  • Collect seeds