September 27, 2025

Garden Notes: September 2025

  Rainfall

  • 4th: 0.07"
  • 6th: 0.33"
  • 16th: 0.11"
  • 20th: 0.36"
  • 25th: 1.34"
  • 26th: 0.03
  • 27th: 1.0"
  • 29th: 0.15"
  • Total: 3.39 inches

 Temperature

  • range of nighttime lows: 51 to 69°F (10.5 to 20.5°C)
  • range of daytime highs: 71 to 87°F (22 to 30.5°C)

Garden Notes: It's been a transition month:

  • Finishing the harvest for some things
  • Seed saving
  • Cleaning out beds for either fall planting or their winter rest
  • Planting fall and winter veggies
  • Starting containers of same to transfer into the greenhouse when the weather is colder. 
  • Watering as needed because rain has been scant
Planted
  • parsnips
  • kale
  • blue collards
  • garlic
  • lettuce
  • turnips
  • daikon
  • carrots
Harvested
  • okra
  • yam berries
  • sweet basil
  • parsley
  • muscadines
  • cherry tomatoes
  • onions
  • green beans
  • green peppers
  • elderberries
  • slicing tomatoes
  • garlic
  • field corn
  • asparagus
  • lettuce
Preserved
  • muscadines, frozen
  • elderberries, frozen
  • okra, frozen
  • basil, dehydrated
  • parsley, dehydrated
  • field corn, dried
  • green beans & yam berries, canned
Pictures

Summer tomatoes making a come-back after a hot dry spell.

Summer green beans. They were late producing but are doing well now.

Spring planted Swiss chard. Something ravaged it over the
summer so that I thought it was completely destroyed. But
with the cooler temps and recent rain, it's thriving again.

Greenhouse collards planted about a year ago. These survived much
 neglect over the summer, but survived in a shady spot under a tree.

Late summer planted lettuce

Late summer planted daikon

Late summer planted kale

And a few non-garden pics. 

Lots of eggs! Mostly chicken with a few duck eggs. The little
 ones are pullet eggs from our newly laying Buff Orpingtons.

Brownie sundae with homemade goats milk ice cream.

So that's my garden at the end of September. How is yours?

14 comments:

Ed said...

Due to my lapse in judgement in unfencing the bulk of the garden too early, the deer have pretty much put the hurt on everything but the eggplant. They even ate my jalapeno plant after a month of turning up their noses at it. The stripped all the okra leaves within range but I was still able to get okra from the tops of the plants. Then a young buck figured out he can scrape on the okra plant bases until they broke so they could get the rest. Live and learn. I did scratch up the mulch on top two days ago to help it break down over winter.

Can you grow garlic and get another harvest before spring? Up here, I usually don't plant my garlic for another three weeks or so and after a killing frost has happened. It usually will just poke up out of the soil before the really cold stuff happens and then it resumes again in the spring.

daisy g said...

Wow, everything looks so good! What variety is that kale you put in shade? It almost looks like Brussels sprouts. Plants are just amazing the way they keep coming back. Enjoy the cooldown!

Leigh said...

Darn deer. Have you tried Deer-B-Gon Ed? It's nontoxic and really works! It has to be sprayed on again after a rain, but it absolutely saved our okra this summer.

I won't get a garlic harvest until spring. It will grow some until it gets cold, but we have enough really cold winter weather to keep it dormant until spring.

Leigh said...

Daisy, that isn't kale in the container photo, it's collards! My mistake, but now corrected in the photo caption. I'm finding collards and broccoli to be almost perennial. Some of them at least.

Laurie said...

I really enjoyed learning about the yam berries and hopniss. I've seen the yam berries mentioned by David the Good as well. They both sound interesting. We've not had rain in 6 weeks, until a couple of days ago, so garden harvests are slim this year. They were slim even before the drought, so we're looking into changing up things for next year. It's always interesting to see what you're growing and harvesting.

Leigh said...

Laurie, we've struggled with droughty heat this summer too. My observation is that even with irrigation, production isn't as good as it is with rain.

The hopniss and yam berries are wonderful perennials! They do well with no intervention on my part, which is a real plus in my book. I'm still experimenting with them for recipes and dishes, and that's a lot of fun.

Mr O said...

Rain has been very scarce here on Mississippi coast. Have you ever eaten the okra leaves. Ready for some true fall weather.

Leigh said...

Mr. O, no! I've never eaten okra leaves. Are they edible? Ready for true fall weather here too.

Mr O said...

Apparently yes they are I just recently learned this but I currently don’t have any to try. State to cook just like greens. Plan to next summer.

Leigh said...

Interesting. I'm going to tuck that tidbit away for future reference. I read the same about sweet potato vine leaves but haven't tried them yet.

Laurie said...

I've been using sweet potato leaves in smoothies the past couple of years, to replace spinach. Other greens I've tried, like kale, impart a cruciferous flavor, not all that wonderful, but the sweet potato leaves, like spinach, aren't noticed.

Leigh said...

Wow, Laurie, thanks! We eat a variety of greens in salad and cooked, so I'll have to try sweet potato leaves now.

Ed said...

I have used it and it does work but I find it needs almost daily application up here due to the heavy dews in the mornings. I should have put the fence back up after mowing everything and just paid the price this year. Next year I won't make the same mistake.

Leigh said...

Ed, everybody's situation requires different solutions. A one time project like a fence certainly has advantages to something that requires frequent maintenance.