The September Garden

The one word to sum up this year's garden was prolific. It exceeded my expectations! My raised beds were filled with both old and new favorites. I wanted to do a September garden recap for you guys. I have so many of pictures to share!

The tomatoes and the peppers did exceptionally well here in zone 6a this year. Both crops definitely hit their peak during September. I tried my hand at growing many new herbs like citronella and pineapple sage. I will definitely be growing both again! The late season blooming flowers like sunflowers, helenium and rudbeckia are my absolute favorites.

Come take a look at what was growing as summer turned into fall. 

 

Note: This was the first year that almost everything I grew was from seeds or bulbs.

 

Magnificent Morning Glories

 

The Grandpa Ott morning glories completely covered my wooden garden arbor. They were so beautiful this year. These seeds were gifted to me from my wonderful friend and fellow garden blogger Jen McGuinness of Frau Zinnie. 

 

Herbs Growing Vertically 

 

I'm always looking for a way to grow more in a small space. My GreenStalk vertical garden has been filled to the brim with delicious herbs since June. 

From the bottom tier up up: Chocolate mint, Italian flat leaf parsley, Italian large leaf basil

 

More Herbs

 

 

 

 

 

Harvesting Fruits & Veggies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomato Roundup
Roma - (75 days) A sauce tomato with a meaty texture that produces high yields. Heirloom, Determinate My rating 4/5
San Marzano - (95 days) Another sauce tomato that is disease resistant and super easy to grow. Takes longer to mature than Roma, but is worth the wait. This tomato is both meaty and juicy. To top it off, they are full of flavor. Heirloom, Indeterminate My rating 5/5
Black Krim - (80 days) The flavor of these maroon beefsteak tomatoes is definitely mild with an equal amount of sweet to salty. This Russian variety is full of flavor and also beautiful to look at. I absolutely love the color! Heirloom, Indeterminate My rating 4/5
Purple Russian (80 days) - Another tomato that hails from Russia, this variety has plum shaped purple hued fruit perfect for eating right off the vine. They are crack resistant, sweet and bursting with flavor. Heirloom, Indeterminate My rating 4/5
Lucid Gem (75 days) - This beefsteak tomato is absolutely hypnotizing to look at. When they ripen, they start off yellow. You know they are fully ripe when they are orange with black splashes of color. They have a complex fruity flavor and meaty texture. Heirloom, Indeterminate My rating 2/5 I have to give these a low rating only because they didn't produce a large amount of fruit. 
Super Sweet 100 (60 days) - This is my absolute favorite cherry tomato to grow. It's widely available and over the years I've tried to find more unique cherry tomatoes, but I always come back to this one. I actually have to fight the birds and chipmunks in my yard for these. They are on the smaller side, grow in clusters, full of sugar and perfect for snacking! Hybrid, Indeterminate My rating 5/5
Large Red (80 days) - It doesn't exactly have an exciting name, but it is a sweet, standard, dependable cherry tomato. My plants produced a ton of these little babies this year. Not quite as sweet as Super Sweet, but still delicious. True to the name, they are large. Heirloom, Indeterminate My rating 4/5
Gardener's Delight (65 days)-  Although they weren't a stand out in sweetness, this German variety was still delicious! My plants produced a good amount of large sized cherries. They had a delightful flavor and were resistant to cracking. Fun fact: another name for these is Sugar Lump. How cute! Heirloom, Indeterminate My rating 4/5
Patio Choice Patio Yellow (45 days)- When I think about how many tomatoes these plants produced, all I can say is WOW! The plant stays compact, making it perfect for raised beds and small spaces. The flavor was sweet and I found myself wanting to snack on them as I worked. Yum! Hybrid, Determinate My rating 5/5

 

 

 

If you live anywhere in the Northeast - I highly recommend growing King of the North bell peppers. They are perfect for our short growing season! Bells have always given me trouble with how long they take to reach maturity in the past. 

 

 

I used to have issues with my pepper plants flopping over, so I started using these Pepper Cages from Gardener's Supply Company. They are not only super sturdy, but they are also super cute! I love the pop of red. 

 

 

 

 

Looking for a more sturdy support system for your cucumbers? Try these Large Cucumber Trellises like I did! Instead of laying mine flat, I kept them more vertical so they would fit properly and give me extra room in my raised beds. To keep them from falling over during a storm, I drilled holes into the sides of my beds, and added some zip ties!

 

 

Ground cherry 'Aunt Molly'

 

"Picked at just the right time!" - a quote that represents my pumpkin season in a nutshell

Funny little backstory - So, my pumpkin vines did pretty well this year. I grew them for the first time in a raised bed filled with amended soil and compost. A tiny Jack Be Little pumpkin was growing. My plan being to let it stay on the vine as long as I could until frost. Well, in early September we had a few threats of frost. My fiancé thought he was being helpful and picked the pumpkin right off the vine during a weather threat. It's about the size of a golf ball. Definitely not mature. He came in the house and exclaimed "Picked it at just the right time!" He thought he was saving it from the frost that never came. We had a laugh. He keeps it on his desk and occasionally points to it and says, "Picked at the perfect time!"

 

 

Bean Tower Garden Fail

I've been growing Scarlet runner beans for years. So, I should know exactly how tall and heavy these vines can get. I had the brilliant idea of growing them on this 6 foot tall garden tee pee. Theoretically, it seems large enough for most pole beans, but this variety can grow up to 15 feet tall. So, a giant wind storm hit us pretty hard and in the process, my bean tower collapsed right in the middle. Totally my fault. I should have seen it coming, but, alas, I didn't. I had quite a few residents living in the bean vines, so I decided to keep it this way for awhile. The beans kept producing, it just wasn't super visually appealing. 

 

Blooms Galore

I purchased most of my flower seeds from Swallowtail Garden Seeds this season. I do have a large collection of seeds stashed away, but come early spring I always make sure I order the varieties I still need.

Well, since the pandemic was going on and Covid seemed to be affecting everything, ordering seeds online was an absolute nightmare! I am not even exaggerating. Shipping was backed up and many companies couldn't keep up with the demand.

Swallowtail Garden Seeds definitely saved the day. They have a great selection, reliable customer service and relatively fast shipping despite the circumstances. I just wanted to give them a shoutout. They really made my flower garden shine!

 

 

 

I absolutely loved growing this variety! I did have to deal with attacks from some Colorado Potato beetles though. They were drawn right to my flowers, and there were many days spent picking them off by hand. 

 

 

I planted butterfly weed seeds a couple years back. This is the first year it bloomed, and the plants really seemed to take off! It was worth the wait!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Squash Tunnel

 

 

Since the pandemic really slowed shipping in the spring, I started growing on my squash tunnel a little later than originally planned. I decided to grow watermelons, cucamelons, morning glories and cardinal climber vine on the tunnel this year. Once the foliage started growing in, it looked magnificent! I cannot wait to have a full season with this baby next year.

 

 

 

 

Find out more about the Titan Squash Tunnel here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love flowering vines! I've always wanted to grow Black-eyed Susan vines in the past, but never really had the space. Since pea season was well over, I decided to utilize my two Titan Pea Tunnels for sweet peas and other flowering vines. They created a gorgeous privacy wall filled with blooms and didn't budge during high winds. 

 

 

A Split Second of Beauty

 

If you are a fan of morning glories like me, you need to grow the variety Split Second. Just seeing the pictures of the blooms online does not do it enough justice. The flowers are unique and fascinating to look at up close. The first time a flower opened, my jaw dropped and I gasped! The petals are silky soft and have a gorgeous hue of blush pink and white. 

 

And that's it for the September garden.

 

I'm really thankful I have my garden, especially this year. It served as a sort of sanctuary for my fiancé and I when we needed a place to relax. A much-needed respite of sorts. It's so easy to be at peace when you are surrounded by nature.

How did your garden fair this fall? Did you have any stand outs that you can't wait to grow again? Tell me all about it in the comment section below. As always, thank you for taking the time to tour with me & happy gardening!

 

 

 

If you enjoyed reading this post, you might also like these:

• The August Garden
• Frost Tolerant Favorites for the Vegetable Garden
• Starting a Winter Vegetable Garden