September is the month of the last big harvests. And if anything marked September for me…it was the forest fires in the mountains above us. It was also hot, hot and hot. Our youngest hated it, and lived with his face mask on, with very limited time outside.
But I know: the heat was good for the tomatoes. We were pulling in daily harvests, until the last week of September, when it finally cooled down, and the rains came.
The apple crop this year wasn’t the best. Only a few of our trees put on apples. However, that is normal when the trees are growing. The rainy and cold Spring didn’t help either, with fruit setting on.
During the week of forest fire smoke, I couldn’t work outside, so I came up with ideas on what to do, once it cleared. One was redoing the original raised beds. The middle beds all came out, and the fill mix in them spread out.
This was after raising the beds we were keeping. The beds on each side stayed.
Before:
During the tear out of the middle beds.
We had toyed on wether or not to do in ground here, or to rebuild, with new fill. We opted for new beds. I may make them a set higher, we shall see. It was nice though to get the end beds higher, so the blueberries would have more depth. I also dug up many of the blueberry bushes along the fence, as that fence will need to be replaced soon. As well, they were not faring there well. We had sunk the bushes in quickly when we moved in, and never broke the ground open enough. Many were stunted growth wise. Fall is a prime time to move them, and they will fare better next year.
The field tomatoes, soon before the end.
I was happy with the red grape production this year. They have fared well in this spot.
The cranberry beans:
But would it be September if it didn’t hail so hard, it looked like snow? And then go back up to 80° the next day….
The end of September brought the first Fall carrots.
Jack Be Little pumpkins:
Carrots at the Harvest Festival on the last day of the month.
And tiny Gourd Spinners. Nature’s fidget spinner….
And now the prep work for late Fall and Winter starts. It’s just cool enough I can work midday again. Tomatoes are coming out, the ground is being put to sleep. Soon, the garlic and shallots will go in the ground. But for now, we have Fall beans and carrots growing, and a lot of work – and dirty feet – waiting.
