September Garden Update

The garden continues to produce an abundance of vegetables this month and I can begin to see the season coming to an end. We’ve already had our first frost, well ahead of our average first frost date. I was able to protect most of the garden by covering the plants with row covers or old sheets on cold nights. This has given the plants a bit more time. The forecast looks like the cooler weather might be here to stay. Here’s my September garden update on how things went this month.

Planting & Garden Maintenance

I haven’t been doing any planting this month, I am primarily focused on cleaning up before the cold weather sets in. Slowly the garden is emptying. I will work on adding compost as time permits to the garden so they are ready for next season. I like to do this either in the fall or early in the spring before any planting happens.

Harvesting

There still is lots of produce from the garden. Some are being saved for long-term storage to eat over the winter and some are still for eating fresh.

• Potatoes, winter squash
• Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers
• Kale, cabbage

Preserving

Making time to be sure that all the beautiful vegetables from the garden are being preserved in some way and don’t go to waste is a priority. Here are a few things I’ve been doing this month.

• Canning – I was able to harvest enough in a single batch to can pickled peppers. For the smaller quantities, I continue to harvest I am making quick pickled peppers.
• Dehydrating – It doesn’t take too much time to fill the dehydrator with sliced tomatoes to save them for later. Once dehydrated I can decide to leave them in pieces or blend them into tomato powder.
• Freezing – I like ensuring the freezer is stocked with kale for smoothies or to add to soups throughout the winter.
• Curing – vegetables like squash and potatoes are being cured so that they can be put in cold storage and kept over the winter.

Coming Soon

The gardening season in southern Ontario is coming to a close, next month we’ll plant garlic and work on putting the garden to bed for the winter.

I hope you enjoyed this September Garden Update. I’m always torn at this time of year as the gardening season ends, it’s both a relief from the work, but I will miss my time in the garden.