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September Brings New Opportunities In The Garden

By David Epstein

August 31, 2014

2 minutes to read

September brings cooler days, longer nights and usually more frequent precipitation. However, every year is different and at least the start of September 2014 is going to be warm and dry.

This means it’s important to continue to water plants in the garden until the soil has an adequate amount of moisture. While the tops of plants may have stopped growing for the season, the roots of the trees and shrubs are busy still spreading out and going deeper into the ground. If we have too little water for plants then the damage that occurs can take until spring to manifest itself. This is why sometimes things look fine in the fall, but then die quickly come the warmer weather next spring.

September is also a great time to repair summer lawn damage. If you are going to aerate your lawn, the next 6 weeks are the best time to do this. Fall allows the lawn to heal itself from the shock of aeration. You can also overseed the lawn in a few weeks. I like to overseed just before a steady rain. This washes the seed down into the gaps between the grass plants and helps further thicken the turf.

Fall is the time of year to put down lime and also fertilizer on the lawn. I am not a proponent of the multi-step programs, rather I give my lawn some food twice a year, once in early spring and once again in late summer or fall.

Houseplants are still able to be outside, but I start to treat mine now with a systemic insecticide. This allows me to bring the plants inside and keep them insect free. By using a systemic the poison remains in the soil and I don’t have to use sprays. Since I am not eating the plants I don’t mind using these products inside. I find that if I don’t use them then when I bring the plants inside they often have bugs and sometime in December or January my plants start getting mealy bugs, aphids, scale and other problems.

Speaking of problems, the video below shows a tree I planted that is having some big issues. Since we filmed this episode of Growing Wisdom things have gone from bad to worse and the tree seems to be declining further. I am not sure it will make it through the winter, but I am doing my best to keep it healthy, evenly moist and trying to keep some leaves on it for a few more weeks.