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Pre-Fall Weather Knowledge
With fall less than two weeks away, it’s time to shake up the pre-fall weather lore a bit to speed up the change of seasons. When the hawk is flying high, you can expect Carolina blue skies, but when the hawk is flying low, you can expect a bang. There are all kinds of hawks around the garden plot, the cunning chicken hawk is the most common. When it flies low, it can be a blow to birds. Their activity ceases and everything calms down. The birds have a weapon that communicates with each other, and they also perform a vanishing act when the chicken hawk flies low. Once all the birds have settled into their hiding places, several sentries will gather and chase the falcon in flight. Once the danger has passed, the birds resume their activity and sing. It’s amazing how tame they look when a chicken hawk flies low. They go into “fly and hide” mode when the chicken hawk is looking for a meal. They always have to stay one step ahead of the swooping chicken hawk.
Preparing for the long journey south
Hummingbirds are busy at feeders as fall approaches. They are on a mission because they arrive at the feeders early and often visit until sunset. Keep plenty of nectar in feeders so they will feel at home as summer annuals continue to wane and a fresh sprinkle fills the twilight air. Your nectar feeder will boost their food source. The hummers should be in our area until about the first week of October. That’s when the cool temperatures will signal that their trip to winter in Mexico is imminent. Their long journey will take them across the Gulf of Mexico.
Broccoli does better in winter
Broccoli can be grown in the garden in early spring and fall. Broccoli performs much better in the fall season because during the colder temperatures there are no cabbage moths laying eggs and hatching larvae and virtually no insect pests. The buds last more than a long season and don’t lock into seed until late spring, ensuring a longer and more productive harvest.
Varieties that produce multiple shoots over a long season such as Blue Comet, Premium Crop, Raab, Packman, De Cicco and Lieutenant. Johnny’s Select Seeds has some excellent broccoli varieties that perform well in winter production, such as Arcadia, Marathon, and Eastern Magic. You can order a catalog from them at Johnny’s Select Seeds, 955 Benton Avenue, Winslow, Maine 04901-2601. The Johnny’s catalog offers one of the largest selections of green vegetables in the country, as well as lemon balm herbs and seeds. Place broccoli plants about three feet apart for winter production. Keep the buds and shoots cleanly harvested and they will continue to produce until early spring.
Mommy season is with us
These colorful blooms are popping up at nurseries, hardware stores, garden centers, Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvements, Ace Hardware and Walmart. Mums will handle the harshness of winter with some protection, like keeping them towards the back of the porch out of the cold north winds and covering them with a towel or cloth on freezing nights. Remove the cloth when the temperature exceeds the freezing point. Mums come in yellow, white, maroon, maroon, pink, and wine colors. Feed them once a month with Flower-Tone organic flower food. Water them sparingly to prevent the medium in the container from freezing. Keep them towards the back of the porch all winter to protect them from cold and frost.
The first pie pumpkins appear
Pumpkins for Baking and Canning now appear in Produce and Fruit Markets and can be purchased for pumpkin pies or for canning to make pumpkin pies or desserts all year round . Home-canned pumpkin is much better than store-bought canned pumpkin because this commercial canned pumpkin contains more water and not enough flavor, and lacks texture.
Here’s how to make the best canned pumpkin for pies and recipes. Select pumpkins that are not round (they are strictly for decoration and pumpkins). Buy pumpkins that are oblong or watermelon-shaped and may be very light orange, tan, or tan in color, but will be dark yellow or orange inside. Cut the pumpkins in half and remove the seeds. Divide the pumpkin into slices and peel each slice and cut the slices into one-inch pieces. Place the pieces in a pot and cover with water and boil until tender. Drain all the water from the cooked pumpkin. Run the pumpkin through the blender in grid mode or mash the pumpkin with a potato masher. Pour the grated or mashed pumpkin into sterilized jars, draining any excess water. Process in a pressure canner at ten pounds pressure for fifty minutes. A pint of this pumpkin will make two pies.
Plenty of time to plant spring bulbs
It’s not too early to think about spring 2023 and start buying hyacinth, daffodil, daffodil, crocus, tulip and narcissus bulbs. Most hardware stores, nurseries, garden centers, Home Depots, Ace Hardware, Lowe’s Home Improvement and Walmart have bulbs in stock. They also have bone meal and a bulb booster to help get the bulbs off to a good start. Buy bulbs that are in individual tubs or mesh bags so you can check for rot or mold. Bulbs can be planted from now until the ground freezes.
When to expect the first autumn frosts?
With less than two weeks to fall, when are the first fall frosts expected? Chances are rare that we will see an early frost, in fact most of our first frosts occur the week before Halloween although October 15th is the date when frost may be possible. The first frost is usually just a dusting but not a killing frost which occurs around the first of November.
September porch is cozy
The four o’clock is still in full bloom. The crows are making their noise as well as the crickets and hummingbirds are always zooming. The midsummer roses are still in their bloom phase and the zinnias are on their last stage of summer. The porch is cozy as the sun begins to set and produces the colors that will end with a sunset pattern. There’s a new season just beyond that horizon that will open in less than two weeks.
The first autumn leaves turn
There is a red tint in the dogwood leaves and some yellow in the maples and some leaves are already falling. As the leaves will soon cover the lawn, remember that they are ingredients for compost, mulch and a cover for vegetable crops in cool weather, and to protect rose bushes and azaleas in the cold winter. Never burn the leaves or let the wind blow them away, but make good use of them.
Make a Four-Layer Dirt Dessert
This is an easy-to-make, no-bake dessert that you can whip up in just a few minutes. You will need one package of Chocolate Oreo Cookies, two three-ounce boxes of Jello Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix, one cup of 10x Confectioners Powdered Sugar, one eight-ounce package of Cheese cream, two eight-ounce tubs of Cool Whip, a stick of light margarine. For the first layer: In a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish, break up the cookies and place them in the bottom of the dish. Melt light margarine stick and pour over cookies.
For the second layer: Combine 10x sugar, one carton of Cool Whip, and eight-ounce package of cream cheese (softened). Mix everything together in a bowl and let sit until you mix the third layer, then spread this second layer over the cookies.
For the third layer: Mix the two cans of instant chocolate pudding mix with two cups of milk and let thicken. Spread over the second layer.
For the fourth layer: Spread the other tub of Cool Whip on top of the chocolate pudding layer and run about eight Oreos through the blender on “grid” mode and sprinkle on top of the Cool Whip.
September is the time to plant perennials, conifers
September offers the best opportunity of the year for planting evergreens and perennials, as the days get cooler and the root systems of evergreens and perennials can become established over winter. They will experience less transplant shock because perennials and conifers are very cold hardy. We love the perennials of bee balm, columbine, bugle, creeping phlox, coral bells, diantus, creeping jenny and thrift. Planting in September will provide them with a good start and you can enjoy the green in winter for many years to come.
Hoe hoe hoe
Two frogs were sitting on a log by the creek. One of them leaned over to the other and said, “Sure the weather is fun when you have flies.”
Two desserts. Mom: “Today we have two desserts and you have a choice between good and bad.” Johnnie: “What to do
mean by that? Mom: “Angel food and devil food!”
Full Harvest Moon’s Bright Night
The brightest full moon of the year will rise on the evening of Saturday, September 10. If the night is cool, this moon will be a bright silver moon and shine over the cornfields full of fodder corn ready to harvest. It will illuminate with its light the trees which are about to lose their leaves. Keep an eye out for this moon each night before you go to bed as it cruises through the night. Think of farmers of the past harvesting by the light of a harvest moon or Bill Monroe or Eddy Amold singing the “Kentucky Waltz:” We waltzed alone in Kentucky under the beautiful harvest moon. When I was a kid in Kentucky, it all ended too soon. I see your face in the moonlight and I want to see your face again and the beautiful Kentucky waltz.
