Celebrating September by sowing a row or bed of Siberian Kale. Siberian Kale is a hardy cole family cool weather vegetable that will produce greens from late autumn all the way until early spring. An ounce of seed costs around $2. Siberian Kale thrives in cold weather and the cool of September nights will surely give the Kale a jump start. Plant kale in a furrow and cover with a layer of peat moss, sow the the kale and top with a layer of Vegetable-Tone organic vegetable food for a real boost for a long, productive harvest. Hill up soil on both sides of the furrow and tamp down soil with the hoe blade. If there is not much rain in September, use the water wand in shower mode for a drink of water once a week. Side dress with Plant-Tone or Vegetable-Tone organic plant food every fifteen days.
Plenty to plant in the cool weather garden plot. Why put the garden to bed when you can enjoy something green from it in all four seasons? As September arrives, the list of cool weather vegetables is abundant. You can sow rows or beds of collards, broccoli, cabbage, mustard greens, Siberian Kale, onion sets, turnips (if you sow them soon), cauliflower can also be planted. The secret of cool weather crops is: 1. Keep soil hilled up on each side of the row. 2. Feed twice a month with organic plant foods such as Vegetable-Tone, Plant-Tone, and Dr. Earth vegetable food and not pelleted chemical fertilizers. Plants need food not fertilizer. 3. Cover with a layer of crushed leaves between the rows. 4. When sowing seed or transplanting plants, always apply a layer of peat moss or Black Kow composted cow manure (sold in 25- and 50-pound bags at most hard ware stores, Home Depot, and Lowe’s) Both these products will improve your soil and are totally organic, (in other words, they add something to the soil rather than subtract something from it). When gardening, it makes good sense to do the math!
Filling summer annuals with cool weather flowers. The containers and pots of summer annuals can now be replaced with autumn annuals such as pansies, ornamental cabbage and kale, candy tuft, and daphne. You can recycle the soil the summer annuals were in by pouring the old medium into the wheelbarrow and mixing it with 50% new medium which you can purchase in 25- and 50-pound bags. Add a bag of pansy booster when planting pansy plants for a quick response. Pansies are unusual because they have “faces” on them. There are several varieties of pansies in colors of burgundy, yellow, wine, white, lavender, cream, deep purple, tan, and brown. Place them where they can receive autumn and winter sun. You can purchase pansies in four, six, and nine packs already in bloom so that you can choose the colors you prefer.
September and shorter days will add up to colorful sunsets. September is the month of the arrival of autumn and continues to bring days a minute shorter each evening. The nights are cooling off and there is a certain nip in the air on the front porch that heralds the hint of autumn. September’s low humidity and cooler temperatures can add up beautiful sunsets that will only get brighter as the month wears on. The western horizon will be adorned with pink, red, orange, yellow, lavender, blue, and purple. If you said, twelve hours, you are partially right! The other difference is that at sunrise, the sun fades out the colors of the sunrise, but at sunset, the sunset fades out the sun. Enjoy September sunsets as they become part of the glories of autumn.
The leaves are displaying hints of autumn color. The Artist of Autumn has placed His hand on the maples, dogwoods, hickories, and poplars. The reds of the dogwoods blend well with the gold, bronze, and yellow of the hickory, poplar, and maple. The mighty oaks still have green color and it will take frost to turn them brown and gold and red. With a Carolina blue sky, lower humidity, colorful leaves and glorious sunsets, autumn glory is more intense and beautiful each and every day.
Spring bulb planting time is almost here. The spring bulbs of crocus, daffodil, jonquils, narcissus, snow drops, and hyacinths are showing up in hard ware stores, nurseries, Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s and seed stores. You can purchase then in individual colors from bins at hardwares or in packages or netted bags in multi-colors. The see through net bags are the best way to buy bulbs because you can see and feel the bulbs and know what you are buying. Hyacinths come in colors of red, blue, lavender, pink, purple, white, and yellow. You can buy them in mesh bags of three, six, or nine bulbs. To promote their growth, buy a bag of bone meal or bulb booster. Another great investment is a durable bulb planter to make the job of bulb planting easier. When you plant bulbs, use peat moss and Black Kow composted cow manure to get the bulbs off to a good start. Before frost and ground freezes, cover bulbs with a layer of crushed leaves.
September is the season to set out collards and cabbage. The Cabbage Collard is a favorite collard variety in eastern North Carolina. The Cabbage Collard heads like a cabbage. They are cold hardy and can be harvest when snow is on the ground. Bonnie Plant Farms distributes this variety and they are available at Lowe’s, Home Depot, Walmart and most hard ware stores. They come in six and nine packs. Set them about three feet apart to allow them room to head. My Northampton County grandma would throw shovels of soil up on both sides of heading collards during winter and place pine straw between the rows. Collards were always steaming on her table at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. Keep collard plants fed with Vegetable-Tone organic vegetable food once a month during winter.
Early September is comfortable in the garden plot. There are not many insect pests, the humidity is lower, temperatures are comfortable, the sky is Carolina blue, the soil is workable, there are less weeds. There are plenty of cool weather vegetables just waiting to be sown and planted even while warm weather vegetables are still being harvested. It is a great time to enjoy the best of both garden worlds.
Making a dish of Monterey macaroni. This is a great dish for a crisp September supper. You will need one eight-ounce pack of finely shredded Monterey Jack shredded cheese, one pack Nathan’s beef hot dogs, one eight-ounce box of elbow macaroni, eight-ounce cup sour cream, one stick light margarine, half-teaspoon pepper, one pack Recipe Secrets Beef Onion soup mix, half teaspoon paprika. Cook elbow macaroni according to package instructions and drain. Spray casserole dish with Pam backing spray. Cut Nathan’s hot dogs into quarter inch pieces and stir unto macaroni. Add other ingredients and stir into macaroni. Pour into casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes until bubbly.
The Almanac for month of September. The full moon of September accrued on Wednesday, Sept. 2 and was named Full Corn Moon. Labor Day will be celebrated Monday, Sept. 7. The moon reaches its last quarter on Thursday, Sept. 10. Grandparents Day will be celebrated on Thursday, Sept. 13. There will be a new moon in the western sky at sunset on Thursday, Sept. 17. Autumn begins on Tuesday, Sept. 22. The moon reaches its first quarter in Wednesday, Sept. 23. Yom Kipper begins at sundown on Sunday, Sept. 27.
Hoe-Hoe-Hoedown: “A fishy tale” – Two men rented a boat and were fishing in a huge lake. The very first day, they caught 40 fish. As they were preparing to head back to shore, one man said to the other, “Let’s mark this spot so we will know to come back here tomorrow.” The next day when they drove up to rent the boat one man said to the other, “Did you mark the spot?” The man replied, “Yes, I put a big “X” on the bottom of the boat.” The other man said “That was a dumb thing to do!” What if we don’t get the same boat today?”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
Be First to Comment