5 Steps to Starting a September Garden

The days are turning cool and the nights even cooler… Summer is officially over. You might think it’s far too late to START gardening in mid-September. Not so! Just a few simple steps and you’ll be enjoying your first fall harvest before you know it.

1. Evaluate Your Space

Determine whether you have the space, sunlight, and water needed for successfully growing edibles. Ideally enough space for 8 square feet of growing, in 6+ hours of full sun, with a nearby water source. If your ground soil is contaminated (often the case around Greater Boston), consider planting in a raised bed or other container solution. Need help? Call in the experts, and schedule an on site consultation!

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2. Choose Your Growing System

There are infinite options, but the basics are in-ground, raised beds, and containers (like milk crates or patio planters).

Ask yourself if you want to be able to move your garden around easily, or have a more permanent location for it. Whether you want to be able to bring it indoors before the first frost, or add cold frames or other type of season extension.

3. Create Your Crop Map

This is an important step for success; knowing which crops enjoy and thrive in the cooler weather, are quick to mature, and
how to space them in your garden bed or containers.

Check out our post on fall crops for a bountiful harvest, and use these tools to help you with this step:

• Crop list
• Crop mapping

4. Execute Your Plan

You planned your fall garden out carefully, now it’s time to pull the trigger before it really is too late. Install your garden, irrigation (on a timer), plant your starts and seeds, and maintain frequently to remove weeds, pests, etc.

5. Extend Your Season

Especially because it’s fixing to be a cool autumn and a COLD winter, you may want to think about season extension by either bringing your edibles indoors before the first frost, or using an outdoor season extender like cold frames for raised beds. Don’t know where to start? Learn EVERYTHING you need to know about season extension in New England at one of two intensive workshops:

• Thursday, October 2, 6:30pm-8:30pm
• Saturday, October 4, 10:00am-12:00pm

FINAL WORDS:

It’s definitely NOT too late! But time IS short. Take advantage of our September Deal (one 4’x8′ raised bed with cold frames at 5% off, plus a bonus $10 discount on the Season Extension Workshop – almost a $100 value!) to get you off and running. This includes soil and irrigation!