September brings the spring flowering bulbs to be planted.
Trees and shrubs need pruning.
Geraniums need potting for winter.
Seeds are to be collected.
And everything needs water!

Caroline, it has been crazy busy so far.

Despite the bad drought year, we still ended up with good garden crops. We decided to pull out all the squash/pumpkins last night. The kids had a great time. There were 2 loads taken out!




Everything was divided out by type and then we made piles for the different families that would get care packages. We tossed back and forth heavily the idea of letting the kids sell the extra, but instead decided on donating them. With rising prices seems like many families are struggling and this gives a great lesson also to the kids. Current price on squash up here is at 88 cents/lb. some of those larger varieties can weigh in at around 30-35 lbs



Are you planting any bulbs? I have not ordered any yet. I am starting to ponder on a few items though, pink and black peony tulips.. I think that would be a lovely mix.
Hope all is going well in your neck of the woods!

Wow! what a harvest!
I think it is great that you share the products of your labour like that.

I am planting bulbs. Daffodils especially, and also tulips. Did some alliums (Purple Sensation).
Your idea of pink and black peony tulips sounds great. If you do those-when they bloom----post a picture.
This year I am planting many of the multiflowering tulips. (sometimes called bouquet tulips)
One is Antoinette which changes colour over its bloom time.
I have ordered one called Mango Charm which changes colour also. It has regular tulip flowers.

Nice harvest sassafrass, and donating some to needy families is a very kind thing to do.

Thanks ladies. Yes it was a great harvest. Here I had hopes of the kids getting a good lesson from it... and instead I took away something valuable as well. I've always been the one behind the scenes, with the husband and the kids delivering the goods to everyone. This year the kids stayed home and my husband and I took everything to everyone.. and oh my gosh I never realized the emotions I would feel from everyone's response. We are just thankful we were provided with enough to help others.

I was actually sent a bunch of different tulips, so I'm hoping to plant them next week. Multiflowering sounds wonderful, I've never heard of those, are they pretty popular? I'm still hoping to come across some black and pinks at a good price, but if I don't get to them this yr I'll try it again next.

The kids and I decided it was time to start doing some decorating.

We had frost the first 13th of September and it has continued to frost most nights since. I started digging my dahlias today, some of them were just getting ready to bloom so it was sad to have put the time and work into them and not even get to see one bloom. I talked to a master gardener who grows dahlias about why some didn't bloom and some where so late and she thought it was just the weather this year with the heat and no rain. It would be nice to know if there were early and late season because up north the early season would be my definite choice

Sue, that is really sad, I feel for you. I have daylilies that are supposed to be mid season that just recently sent up scapes, I know I will not get to see them bloom. What is the daylily in your avatar, looks like El Bandito.

I used to grow dahlias but got tired of digging them up every fall, I still love them though.

The daylily is Blueberry Cream. It is one of my favorites but it isn't registered so can't be on the daylilies data base. The yellow and burgundy are also the colors I seem to choose most when I'm picking colors for about anything so that's kinda why I chose it and like it so much. What is the daylily in yours?

Open Hearth, just got it this spring and I love it. I ordered Blueberry Cream and a lot of other cultivars from Vesey's, I got very little of what I ordered from that catalog and I will never buy from them again.
El Bandito

El Bandito looks enough like blueberry cream to be it's brother. I bought it from Roots & Rhizomes but I don't buy daylilies from them any more either. They send nice plants but many times when they bloom they aren't what you ordered. Sometimes you can figure out what you got but not always and then there's the hassle of dealing with them about the plants. I live in the country with no where close to buy some of the newer varieties of plants so am really dependent on catologues and the internet and you never know what your gonna get when you order.

Sue, I have similar problems, we live in a small town and that was why I ordered from the catalogs. 3 years ago I found a daylily grower in another town, BX Creek Daylilies, check out the website, it's a long drive, over 3 hours there and back but at least I know I will get the right daylilies. It's also a nice outing, we enjoy visiting with the growers, Gail and Allen Morgan, their gardens are lovely.

Most of the daylilies from the catalogs are tissue culture and I think that's why they mess up so often, they grow millions of plants that way.

We had frost last night, it was 31 when I got up this morning, I haven't looked at the plants yet.

We have a chance for snow so I'm really gonna have to cruise to get everything dug out like glads and the rest of my dahlias, and everything dug in,,(spring blooming bulbs). I hate planting when it's really cold so I better get busy. Have you checked out the lily auction on line? I've had pretty good results from the things I've bought through them.

Sorry you are expecting snow, way too early. We had a light snow fall early in the month, it didn't stay on the ground too long, since then the weather has been wonderful, warm sunny days, no rain.

No I haven't checked out the auction, I think probably most sellers are in the US and shipping across the border can be a problem with the stupid customs. Gail from BX Creek ordered several very expensive daylilies two years in a row and they were kept in customs for 10 days. I actually saw the ones she received last year, they were in rough shape, and of course it it not the sellers fault, so if they die it's money down the drain.

I want to plant some Asiatic lilies this year, I have a few and I love them, they are tough and do well here, last year a nasty little vole ate some of them.

Looks like I get to say goodbye to my garden today; supposed to get down below freezing tonight and down in the 20's for the next several nights. Ugh, I don't enjoy cleaning up all the dead stuff!

That's sad woffie, it's supposed to get colder here tomorrow night but I sure hope it doesn't drop that low.

Could be worse......could be in Alaska, where one area got 7 inches of snow a couple of days ago! Not quite ready for THAT!

Ugh.

oh my.. snow already. Well I think for once I'm ready. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70's so I'll take advantage of that, then it's dipping down into the 40's & 50's. We desperately need a good winter here with lots of snow.

I think this is the first year I can remember when I'm looking forward to winter. I imagine everyone is as tired as I am of dragging hoses around trying to keep things going until we get some rain which doesn't come. I'm prayin for lots of snow this winter or even better yet lots of rain this fall.