September gardens aren’t as promising as June gardens or as productive as August gardens, but they do have an appeal all their own. Many flowers have gone past, their buds turning to seed. Some dieback has lead to open spaces and a more manageable plot. Each flower is appreciated a little bit more deeply than the previous because you know that next month at this time they’ll be just a summer memory. My garden, too, has seen it’s prime for the year, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still enjoying being out there. Here’s what it looks like as of yesterday:
Pretty sparse, eh? I’ve cut back everything in the raised bed save for the artichokes and peppers. In their place I’ve sown cold season crops like kale, broccoli and brussels sprouts, but to be honest I can’t find my plot map for the life of me, so we’ll just see how everything turns out! Some hungry bugs have demolished quite a bit of the leaves, but I haven’t caught the culprit yet. Hopefully the seedlings can keep going and produce at least a little bit of fall harvest. The peppers are the lone producer left in the garden and they are still churning out lots of good stuff.
I made a stir fry with those yesterday! The artichokes are still chugging along, and though they won’t produce this year, I think I may try my hand at overwintering them since they are such reliable second year producers.
The other thing still thriving on that side of the yard is the avocado tree. I first introduced you to this plant way back in the winter while it was in the house:
Now look at it! Ahhh!! Where am I going to put this thing??
Another plant I’m going to have to move furniture to accommodate is this guy: the money tree. He also was debuted on the blog in the cold months:
Now look at him! Wow, it’s going to get interesting finding a place for these.
On the other side of the yard, in front of the porch, there’s still plenty of greenery.
The sunflowers have mostly gone past, but this guy still has some color:
And the asters are popping right now. How gorgeous is this one?
With the sun setting earlier and the nights getting nippier, I know it’s only a matter or time before we put up the cornstalks. I kinda can’t wait for all the fun fall decorating, but at the same time I’m still trying to savor the last drops of summer’s warmth and enjoy the garden.
