4 Gardening Tips for the Month of September

Gibby's Garden

You've been diligent. You’ve worked hard all summer long pulling weeds, watering, carefully tying wayward plants to their supports and implementing the best organic pest control you know how. September is here and there’s still much to do. Here’s a list of tips gathered from my own experience to help your garden go out with a bang.

Tips for Gardening in September

Tip #1: Harvest!

You worked hard nurturing and pampering your organic vegetable garden all summer long. Now it’s time to reap your final rewards. Get out and harvest and continue to do so as vegetables mature. Keep in mind that the harvest will slow during the month of September as the nights turn colder and plants begin to die off.

Tip #2: Preserve Your Bounty

You’re bound to have excess vegetables from your harvest. Don’t let them go to waste! Freeze, preserve and dehydrate your vegetables so you can enjoy them all summer long. 

Tip #3: Continue to Weed

Weed? Yes you read that right. Though your vegetable garden is coming to an end, those pesky weeds are still striving to have their say. Continue to pull them, especially before they go to seed. This will help set you up for fewer weeds during the next growing season. Weed seeds will have no problem ingratiating themselves into the soil of your garden where they’ll snuggle quietly over the long winter months while waiting for spring.

Tip #4: Remove Dead Vegetable Plants

As your vegetable plants begin to die off, pull them and toss them into the compost pile. If any are diseased, tomato plants with blight for example, bag those and put them by the curb on trash day. Whatever you do with your plants, don’t leave them piled up in the garden over the winter. These piles provide welcoming homes for pests to nestle under over the winter.

Winding Down for the Season

For those of us in the north, the gardening season is starting to wind down. What we do now, in September and October, influences our gardens next year in terms of a preemptive strike against pests, weeds and disease. My best tip for the month of September; get outside and enjoy what’s left of the season and take a moment to remember why it is you love to grow your own organic vegetables. Was it worth it?