New England September 2016

This is the month that signals the end of summer for me. School has started, the garden has finally started producing regularly, and before you know it a frost hits and starts to turn pretty much everything brown.
I like the summer feeling of July and August, but it seems like the returning school buses are chasing the summer time fun away. The birds are busy in the tree tops, the bees are still humming on any new flowers, the crickets are loudly chirping in the evenings, and the major wave of newly hatched dragon flies are zig zagging through the evening air in the yard, making mosquitoes flee for their lives. Your cat is starting to keep you up at night, chasing the mice that know the cold weather is coming and they need to find a better place to sleep. Then you notice the slight changing of the green of the tree leaves to a lighter shade, not much lighter, but not the deep green of summer. Going down the road you start to notice the occasional branch on the maple trees that have been damaged and that branch turns its leaves into the bright red colors that are yet to come on the rest. You know fall is right around the corner.
You have planted that last late crop that likes the cooler temps, and worry that maybe it might not make it due to a very early hard frost, but you have other things that keep you busy so it just sort of lingers as an annoying thought occasionally in the back of your mind.
The summer time people are getting ready to leave and go to the warmer winter spots, and we think of planning for the great cold slumber that will come, brought by a cold wind and some fluffy white snow that most enjoy for a short time, then the monotony of shoveling and blowing takes the fun away.
Now you are planning for turning up the covers on the garden so it will stay comfy until spring. We think about the leaves that will be gathered and made into compost, and making room in the storage areas so tools aren't out in the weather to rust. I may be a little tired of the hot temperatures, but I don't want to say good bye to summer.
So on I go, plans and hopes for the next season always seem to be around my garden. It has a gentle way of reminding me that the more I think about it, the better it will be. In the cold days when nothing grows but the icicles hanging from the edge of the roof, many times my thoughts return the warmth of my garden.
I enjoy the great eats I get now in my garden, fresh is fresh when it comes right from the garden to my plate. So while September signals the end of summer, it also provides the greatest abundance before summer's farewell. It brings out the pumpkins and cornstalks, apple picking time, and the fall colors so we can enjoy the harvest celebrations. Whether it is a garden or a farm, the season of summer is the greatest time. Even though my garden is not gone by a long shot, it is once again a happy memory that even cold temperatures can't dull or diminish. I am enjoying it now even more, before it is gone.

Ode to Fall

Our Poet Laureate!  Nice synopsis of the seasonal experience, Rock!  Very true, bittersweet.  Cicadas in the background through my open windows...love open windows!

Hey SR, I have never been called that, have been called many things (that can't be posted here .) I hope it wasn't boring, I just wanted to give the mental picture of New England, through my eyes. It isn't about me, it is about us, and our gardening. Hopefully it will help us appreciate what we have and what we do, which is being totally conscious of our world.
I wish I could express how much being a part of this forum, SFG, has made me aware of my garden, what I am really doing, and really fantastic the people are who are part of this forum that share on it. They are a great group of people.

Scorpio Rising wrote:Our Poet Laureate!  Nice synopsis of the seasonal experience, Rock!  Very true, bittersweet.  Cicadas in the background through my open windows...love open windows!

+1

bigdogrock wrote:Hey SR, I have never been called that, have been called many things (that can't be posted here .) I hope it wasn't boring, I just wanted to give the mental picture of New England, through my eyes. It isn't about me, it is about us, and our gardening. Hopefully it will help us appreciate what we have and what we do, which is being totally conscious of our world.
I wish I could express how much being a part of this forum, SFG, has made me aware of my garden, what I am really doing, and really fantastic the people are who are part of this forum that share on it. They are a great group of people.

Awwe!  You are so articulate!  No. It is amazing, the SFG way. I agree, being a part of this wonderful community has been just awesome.  

Please chime in everyone !

BDR, lovely picture of Fall.  I certainly agree that the first snow is wonderful, but gets a bit stale by the time one has cleared the snow and ice for the umpteenth time. So thankful I no longer have a car so do not have to clear the whole driveway, just a path to the road for me now.

There's always spring to look forward to.

Thank you for starting the September thread in such a lovely manner, Rock. Beautiful. I'm not a big fan of the shorter daylight hours and find it rather depressing. But the fall is always so beautiful, regardless of how I feel, once it begins.

Today it does feel a bit like fall. I think it's the calm before the storm as we are expecting remnants from Hermine here tomorrow night on the Cape. All of my hoop houses are uncovered in anticipation of some much needed rain water. Tomorrow I'll harvest the rest of the tomatoes and anything else that can come in in order to try to lessen any damage from the high winds that are expected.

Harvesting fall lettuce daily now. I also harvested a bunch of lettuce seeds this morning. That was very thrilling! It doesn't take much and you get so many. Started dehydrating cherry tomatoes that were stalking up in the freezer in hopes of having a supply of tomato powder for winter. Also, I cut down all the comfrey today  and loaded it on to the new compost pile for the last time. They will be allowed to grow so their leaves will fall to the base and fertilize the plants.

I have no leaves to eat...replanted spinach.  None of the pre sprouted stuff made it, grrr.  Put in radishes direct seed, also started lettuce seeds and again spinach in starter box.

SR, having no leaves to eat would be a tragedy at my house! I always have some around somewhere. I even broadcast a bunch of seeds mid August so I'll have even more for fall. Just in case you know.

Mustard spinach

Collards

Greens box planted in spring. The winds are very high right now as Hermine is heading this way. That's why the Dino Kale is blowing off to the left.

More kale and collards in with Marketmore cukes and peppers.

Spring chard is still going strong.

Poor little banana peppers... Nobody wants them or loves them.

I think these little round things that are starting to form are supposed to be lemon cukes. Do they look like lemon cukes? The big thing on  left is a tromboncino squash.



This is my fall lettuce bed that's been harvested to within an inch of its life. I figured I won't be able to get out there for 3 so better get what I can now. The right side is a volunteer that I'm guessing it may be a cantaloupe.

I never did find out who sent me the heirloom cucumber seeds. I absolutely love them! I'm saving this big mama for seed.

Heirloom  and lemon cucumbers along with tromboncino squash crawling all over each other on the right trellis. Cherry tomatoes on left trellis.

Thank you for the nice tour (before the storm). Kitty looks very stressed out You just may have a lemon cucumber there.

81 degrees and 70+% humidity at my house. I'm mowing the lawn piecemeal in anticipation of .15 inches of rain tomorrow. Hey, anything is better than the nothing we've been getting.

The cucumbers coming in slowly, about one a week now. Cut the beans down yesterday because they were totally useless. The new sugar snap peas that were planted a while back are doing well and are about 8 inches tall. My fall lettuce has been spectacular. The greens are still going great as usual. I actually have 3 tromboncino squash growing. Since I already harvested two as summer squash and letting the three continue growing in hopes they will become winter squashes.  Brussell sprouts look a little strange, they are so short.  On one of them the sprouts are opening into flowers. Don't know what that's all about. Tomatoes still coming. I also have some volunteer melons/squash forming. Not sure we have enough time left for them to mature so I cut the vines off behind the fruit hoping more energy will go into the fruit.

All in all, it's a pretty great weekend!  

What else is happening out there in New England?

Nice looking gardens CC and Camprn!

Thanks, Rock. I love camp's photo with the bee hives in the back!

Amazing Gilberties as usual, camp. What few I got this year, my first attempt, all had BER except one. But the flavor is amazing! I'll try again next year. Any helpful hints?

Love seeing your gardens!

sanderson wrote:Love seeing your gardens!

Me too. Really nice to see what both have you are doing in the world of SFG.

Love your gardens, CC and Camp!  

Are Gilberties paste type?  Determinate?

Scorpio Rising wrote:Love your gardens, CC and Camp!  

Are Gilberties paste type?  Determinate?

They are supposed to be paste but are great eating like slicing tomatoes, too. Altho if you're trying to cover a sandwich they have a funny, elongated shape. I suppose you could cut them lengthwise for sammies, but I haven't tried it.

I might try these for my paste types!  I have no idea what my son's friends dad gave me but they are not an out of hand eating tomato.  Very meaty.  Not sweet at all.  Small, round.  I have never grown such a thing!  But they got me 3 batches going on 6 of marinara with the Marvelous crock pot recipe so can't complain!  

 And free!

My new plant!

What a BEAUTIFUL color....

Hi RJ... ...haven't seen you in a while. You hibiscus is lovely! How's you sfg doing?

Gorgeous!

CapeCoddess wrote:Hi RJ... ...haven't seen you in a while.  You hibiscus is lovely!  How's you sfg doing?

The closest to an SFG I have are basil and mint under lights.