October

 Then came October; full of merry glee.

- Edmund Spenser

Garden Notes September 2026

September 4 Friday.  Bert went to New York with William and Henry for Henry's 13th birthday.  I drove up with the dogs after I dropped him at the airport.  I wasn't able to get much done because it was already so hot.  But I managed to plant 10 or so Damianita plants that I bought at Buchanan's last week.  They are lovers of sunny and dry areas, so I planted them in two beds in the back of the Rose Garden that don't get much water.  The foliage is really pleasant-smelling, it reminds me of the smell in a florist shop, so I'm concerned they will attract voles.  But only time will tell.

About 4:00 I went back outside and sowed a couple packages of shelling green peas that I soaked in water all day.  I planted them in the 30 x 5 bed in the Vegetable Garden.  Before I sowed the seed I turned over the soil to mix in the compost I laid down last week.  I thought that was going to be a really hard job because it's a big bed, and shoveling in the heat is a big bummer.  But it really wasn't too bad.  I dragged the hose over from the Water Garden to give them a good soak because the sprinkler system doesn't hit that bed.  We built that bed after the system was installed.  The seeds filled that bed completely.  If weather, insects or critters don't get them, we will have a lot of pea soup in our future.  Five days to germinate and 65 days until harvest.  We will be right at the beginning of November when we pick them.  Just in time for soup season!  --Note on October 1st-- I had very poor germination due to the heat.  They are not a plant that can be sown in the early fall for a pre-frost harvest, it's just too hot.

September 5 Saturday. I watered my peas again.   

Sprayed herbicide in the Orchard, the Rose Garden, the Vegetable Garden and the Star Garden.

I worked in the Rose Garden most of the morning.  I pulled weeds, staked Shinner's Sunflower and Pringle Aster.  Finished planting my Damianita, a total of 19 plants. 

September 9 Wednesday.  I got here about 9:00.  I checked on my peas immediately.  None of the peas have sprouted.  

I watered my Damianita plants.

September 12 Saturday.  I see pea sprouts.

I sowed a few lettuce seeds and some Calendula seeds, but not many.  It's still pretty hot, and I'm going to wait a bit longer to begin sowing the carrots, the remaining lettuce, kale, etc - all the seeds I bought recently. 

We got a pretty good rain last night.  We really needed rain.  It is perfect timing for it because it's Hurricane Lily and Schoolhouse Lily season.  They will respond to the rain beautifully and pop right up.

I worked in the Orchard first thing.  I staked a Cowpen Daisy and a couple of Goldenrod.  Cut some of the lower branches off of the Cowpen Daisies because they were bound to shear off from their weight at some point.  Sprinkled poison on ant piles.  And I did quite a bit of weeding.  They were small weeds because the garden is in great shape.  I saw Long-Tailed skippers, Sulphurs, and Julias.  The Julias are here - yay.  So beautiful.  Lots of flowers - Zinnias, Cowpen Daisies, Shinner's Sunflowers, Pringle Aster, White Guara, blue, red, and pink salvias, Late Blooming Boneset, coneflowers.  It's a lovely display.  If I were a butterfly - I'd be there!

I also did a little weeding in the Vegetable Garden and the Rose Garden.  Again, not much to do.  The gardens have never looked better. 

September 14 Sunday. 

I spent more time in the Orchard.  I went down there to watch the butterflies and ended up working for a while pulling weeds.  Next I went into the Rose Garden and spent a little time weeding in there.  I checked on my Damianita plants and cut away wild onion that was crowding a few of them.  Cut back some Heliopsis that I missed a week or so ago when I cut back the rest of them.  And I worked in the Star Garden clearing out some weedy patches.  I haven't spent a lot of time in there lately.  It looks pretty good despite my absence.  But since I plan to make some big changes in that garden this winter, I have sort of been ignoring it.

I drove into town and bought some stakes so that I can prop up some plants.  I also bought 3 ten pound bags of baking soda that I use to kill the nostic algae growing on the paths.

I bought a couple of packages of radishes and sowed a row of them.  Bert and I have grown fond of radishes in our salads.

I spread two bags of the baking soda on the paths in the Orchard.

In the early evening, I went out to the Rose Garden and staked some of my plants that are floppy.  I staked all my Silverleaf Silkgrass, a few Hyssop Leaf Thoroughwort, and my Doll's Head Daisy.  I weeded underneath them all.  And I watered my roses and my Damianita as I worked. 

I also used hedge trimmers and cut back three Autumn Sages in the Greenhouse Gardens and gave them a good watering. 

September 17 Thursday.  I arrived yesterday.  The only thing I did was water in the Star, Rose, Orchard and Water Gardens. At 4:00 I met with the NPSOT board, and we discussed the plant sale. 

September 19, Friday.  More watering.  

I began re-setting my iris.  I have so many bearded iris, and they rarely bloom.  Over time and also due to mulching, the rhizomes have really sunk into the ground.  They need to be exposed.  I'm making a project of moving as many as I can fit all to Mom's garden and resetting them properly. I composted and spread fertilizer.  I dug up about 50 iris and planted them in Mom's Garden.  Some that had really puny rhizomes, I planted in pots and put them in the Vegetable Garden to see how they do.  I watered in that garden as I worked. 

September 22 Tuesday.  I spent most of the morning working in the un-irrigated part of the Star Garden.  I cut down a lot of Late Blooming Boneset and Frostweed that were leaning into paths or growing in paths or were blocking my pathway to the water faucet.  They are all 6 feet tall, so it created a lot of debris.  I also pulled up Four O'Clocks.  And I cut away Inland Sea Oats that were leaning into paths. I cut down some grape vine that was wrapped through my Two Winged Silverbell.  While I was doing that I found a hummingbird nest on a branch of the Silverbell.  So small and cute made of lichen, moss and shreds of tree bark.  Their nests don't rest on top of branches, they hang from branches.  Interesting.  I watered as I worked.  Every plant in that part of the garden is dessicated.  I haven't watered all summer until today.  I mean, Frostweed and Boneset - I must have a hundred in there, so if some don't make, they won't be missed. 

I cleared out the pathway in the Star Garden leading from the front to the back of the garden.  I used the hedge trimmers to cut away ferns and Giant Blue Mistflower.  Did a bit of raking.  Used the loppers to trim back the Almond Verbena.  What a joy the Almond Verbena has been the last few weeks.  It has been covered in blooms and swarmed with butterflies and bees.  A visual and olfactory gardener's dream.

I dug up a couple more iris that I came upon while I was working in the Star Garden and planted them in Mom's Garden.

I cut the Ashy Sunflower down to the ground and harvested the seed.

Watered some of the plants for the plant sale that I am holding in the Vegetable Garden until the sale.  I have about 500 plants sitting in the Vegetable Garden, on the porch and in the Rose Garden that are for the sale.  Keeping them watered is a chore.  I can't let them wilt. 

Sprayed herbicide in all the gardens.  Not much was needed, the paths look good.

I cleaned out and filled the bird baths and the tub near the cistern. 

September 23 Wednesday.  The days are getting noticeably shorter.  I woke up at 6:48, and it is still dark.  It's been a tough summer.  Very little rain and extreme heat.  The new normal.

I worked in the un-irrigated part of the Star Garden most of the morning.  I cleaned dead debris out of beds.  I cut spent flower heads off Boneset and Frostweed.  I have a lot of that plant growing, so I don't want them to set seed.  Gave my Two Winged Silverbell a good soak as well as other beds in the area.

I cut down all the Shinner's Sunflower that were no longer blooming before they set seed (for the same reason as the Boneset and Frostweed - I have enough).  I wanted to stake the remaining ones because they have flopped over due to being dry, but I ran out of steam.

I cleaned out the area underneath my Pink Vitex.  It was covered up with wild petunia and Dayflower.  Yuck.

And when I found some gasping iris as I was working, I dug them up and moved them to the Water Garden with the rest of them.  

While I was in the Rose Garden I notice that my Vesuve rose was covered up with Alamo Vine.  I'm not really sure how I missed that mess, but anyway, I spent quite a bit of time pulling it off the rose, finding the source of the vines and pulling them up.  There were some iris underneath that rose (Vesuve used to be really small, now it is master of that flowerbed), so I dug them up and planted them with the rest of the iris I'm trying to save.  There are more there that I want to move. 

I watered sale plants.

September 25 Friday.  I watered some of the fruit trees in the Orchard.  Pulled some weeds while I was down there.  

I dug up an iris and planted it with the others in the Water Garden.  Watered my iris bed - trying to get the roots established before winter. 

I did some watering in the Medicine Garden and the Greenhouse Gardens.  I potted up the Ellen's Legacy Rock Rose seeds that I surreptitiously collected when I was at Texas Native Nursery a week or so ago.  Such a pretty plant! 

I watered the rose bushes and the Damiania plants in the Rose Garden.  Hang on Damianita babies - cool weather is coming!

I did some weeding in the Vegetable Garden.  Moved a few plant sale flats to a shadier spot.  I added a bag of compost to a bed and sowed a row of arugula and a row of cilantro.  I sowed some dill in a bucket.  I sowed another row of radishes.  And I sowed a row of kale (White Russian kale).

I had seven flats of plants for the sale sitting in the shade on my porch.  I moved them all the Kitchen Herb Garden where they will get some filtered sun and irrigation.