Gardening Insights for the Mohawk Valley (Zone 5)

“By all these lovely tokens September days are here, with summer’s best of weather and autumn’s best of cheer”

-Helen Hunt Jackson

In September, the harvest begins.  Nature has been bountiful.

Now is the time for asters (above), Mums and Heleniums, adding the fall colors of gold, orange and red to the landscape. Pumpkins and gourds appear at Farmer’s Markets. In this stage of cooler days and evenings, it is a good time to think back on (and write down) what you loved about your garden this year. What worked and what didn’t? What thrived and what didn’t?

Now is the time to refresh your pots with sedum and flowering Kale. Mums and Black-Eyed Susans.

Your favorite nursery is probably having a perennial sale. Check out what is available, looking to fill the spaces in next year’s garden by planting now. Ask when the perennials flower so you will know you aren’t just filling your garden with plants that all flower at the same time. Make sure to water the plants fully so the roots have time to get established before winter. The same for overgrown plants, divide them and water them until their roots reach out into the fall soil. As always, get rid of any diseased foliage and plants. Continue to pick out pests- you will have less hassle from them next spring by doing this now. It is also a great time to pull weeds, otherwise they will have a head start when things warm up again. Water everything in the garden. Your plants and flowers need a big drink to get through the frozen months.

Take photos (as you should every month) to record this phase of your garden. Remember, a garden is a piece of chromatic “music” whose themes weave with changing shapes and colors throughout the year. It is good to take “time lapse” photos to record moment by moment snapshots of this luminous flow. This is also a good time to have your leaf blower or rake handy. Autumn leaf raking is right around the corner.