September Garden Tips

September Garden Tips to get ready for winter and successful garden next Spring

Here in North Georgia, I am in garden zone 8. Just because things are beginning to die down in the garden right now doesn’t mean that it’s “see you in the Spring”. In fact, I am getting ready to plant some cool weather veggies like radishes and broccoli. Usually, I hang up my garden shears in October, so I am excited to keep the garden going for a few more months. There are a few things I am doing now to help prepare for a successful garden next Spring.

Cut spent plants

Thank you Mr. Tomato plants for your bounty this season, but you are looking pretty spent. I will cut and remove any plant that is finished and hope I can squeeze a few more tomatoes from the others. My peppers, green pepper, carrots, and potatoes are still thriving. If a plant is not diseased, I will put all the clippings in the compost pile. If a plant is diseased and did not do well all season I would throw it out in the garbage. You don’t want to contaminate your compost pile.

Replenish Garden Soil

This is where the compost comes in. You can either use compost or topsoil to nourish your garden during the winter. My compost also has manure in it which will be perfect to cover my garden beds. Before I spread the compost and manure I will rake back all the mulch that is in my beds and save it for next season.

Cover in mulch

If you don’t have compost or manure you can spread mulch on your garden beds. Spreading mulch will help keep the remaining nutrients in the soil and help with any erosion that may occur over the winter months. Tip: Reach out to your local utility company and see if there are cutting trees in your area and are willing to dump the mulch at your property. This has saved me lots of $ over the years.

I think we planted our watermelon plants a bit late this season as we only grew a few large watermelons. This one weighed in at 26 lbs and was so sweet and delicious.

Enjoy what’s left of the summer garden

In my garden, I have a mix of veggie plants and flowers. I knew when things died down I would want to look at something pretty. Years ago I started to plant my mums in the ground, instead of discarding them as I did for years. I have tips on how to keep mums alive during the fall season and how to keep them going for years here. I will wait till the first frost to cut back any perennials in the garden and in my landscape beds. I like to hold on to pretty color as long as I can.

We are waiting a bit longer for carrots to pop from the soil. This is the first time I have ever planted carrots. It takes 3-4 months for a full carrot to grow. Depending on how long you leave it in the soil determines the level of taste ( sweet or sweeter) If you don’t have room for a garden outdoors, you can also grow carrots indoors too.

Another first this garden season were potatos. My family loves potato anything and I thought why not. I believe these are called ‘Gold’ potatos and are smaller then the big brown ones that you commonly see.

That wraps up my September Garden Tips. I’ll be back for more gardening tips, changes to the garden, and how I built my garden to keep the critters out.