YORKTON - The approach of fall brings us all back into our regular routines, and that means meetings for some, doesn’t it!
Gardeners, the summer break is over, and the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be holding their first meet on Wednesday, Sept. 20 at 7:00 PM at the Yorkton Public Library.
And make a note, too, that the Fall Plant and Bulb Sale will be held on Friday, September 22 at the Parkland Mall. Fall is a great time to add some new perennials to our gardens; there is time for the plants to settle in before winter comes. The Fall Plant Sale goes from 9:30 AM till 3:30 PM, or while plants last. I mention that because we had a lot of eager shoppers at our spring plant sale and were pretty much sold out before noon. So it’s better to come soon after the sale begins rather than later! Hope to see you there, bring a gardening friend!
Do you remember back in the spring, I was telling you about some friends who do some planting now in the fall? I think we agreed to chat about it ‘later on’, but you know what? ‘Later on’ is here! So make some tea and let’s talk about how to plant some seeds now for the spring.
Why do such a thing now? Certain seeds will not be affected by being in the soil over winter, and then in the spring when the snow melts, the early moisture will get them germinating and on their way. We all know that when spring comes, we often see all kinds of volunteers popping up in the garden. We know that it is possible. So this approach is just a bit more structured.
What veggies will be candidates for planting in the fall? Veggies like lettuce, carrots, spinach, radishes, kale and onions from seed. The fall flower line-up can include cosmos, calendula, columbine, and poppies. And just for fun, if you have a few tomato seed stragglers in a seed packet, or if some of your tomatoes have over-ripened on the vine, just let them fall, let them get worked into the soil, and leave them there. They may not amount to anything, but they might! This spring we found several tomato volunteers that came up this way, and while they won’t be as early as the other tomatoes, they certainly can rally around and catch up for a few later-season fruits. And we know that garlic gets planted in the fall as well.
When do we do this fall-seeding? Not yet! It’s an interesting project that makes us want to be out there right now, but it is too soon because the seeds would germinate now. No, we have to be patient and do this planting later on in October, before the ground freezes up. Plant as normal, in rows, but make sure to mark the rows so that you don’t till that area up in the spring! The melting winter snow will provide water in the spring.
Then, we wait! This would be a fun experiment, and gardeners that we know who do this method says it works just great! I thank them for sharing the idea with me! There’s always something new to learn with gardening.
I know we’ve talked about garden journals. A garden journal doesn’t have to be a long, detailed thing; just get a small notebook or do it on your phone and make a list of the things that you planted and did well this year, or what looked good together, or what just wasn’t worth the time and effort. We think we’ll remember these details, but really, we won’t. And sometimes a certain combination of plants in a container looks so nice that it is really worth the effort to record it, with jotting it down or taking a photo. This is an important fall task!
Thank you to our friends at YTW for their great work every week. Gardeners, visit the Hort society at www.yorktonhort.ca and have a nice week in the garden!
