For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."
5 things to do in your garden in September
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September is a weird month for me, personally. It's still very much summer (we just had an 80°F day again after some much-needed rain) but the kids are heading back to school in a few days and fall is all around us. I just saw my first pumpkin beer in the store last week! (Not to mention all the pumpkin lattes and Halloween displays out in full force—scratch that, Christmas displays. I guess I already missed Halloween. 🤷♀️) But while it seems like things should be winding down, there's still plenty to harvest and enjoy in the garden. We have a few more weeks before the official start of fall, so before we dive into fall cleanup mode, let's savor the last of our summer gardens! (By the way, I want to point your attention to the link below on cold-hardy vegetables. 👇 While these crops are what you want in your winter garden, the time to plant them is now if you want to harvest in winter!) Seasonal tipsHow I'm planting bulbs this fallI have a dream of covering the front yard around my porch with crocus and winter aconite, some of the earliest-blooming spring bulbs (so early that sometimes they'll bloom in winter and poke up out of the snow!). Read more about them here. I've been doing this bit by bit, buying a few bags of bulbs each year to plant in the grass where I hope they'll naturalize. In the beginning I tried using a traditional bulb planter, but that's a sloooow going process. Then I discovered auger drill bits and planting has become SO much faster and easier! If you have to plant more than a dozen bulbs, an auger is the way to go. It attaches to your cordless drill and makes holes in seconds. You can definitely get more expensive ones, but so far, this one has worked great for me. I've got the 16-inch version which is my sweet spot, because I can kneel, drill a hole, and plant a bulb without bending down again. I've used this for daffodils, fritillaria, crocus, winter aconite, and others, and plant as much as my drill battery lets me. Usually I tire out before the battery does! 😜 P.S. It's still summer, so let's enjoy it. Here are 5 things every gardener should do in late summer. P.P.S. Learn how to store all the vegetables you grow (or buy) with my Fruit & Vegetable Storage Guide. Download the PDF, print out the charts, and save money in wasted food! |
Garden Betty
For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."