The Garden Plot: Greens sown now can be harvested all winter

Ray Baird

There’s still plenty of time to sow rows or beds of curly mustard, Siberian kale, turnip, or mixed greens. They will provide you a long harvest from mid-autumn all the way through the winter. They can be sown in a row bed or broadcasted in a patch. Sow seeds in a furrow about three inches deep. Apply a layer of peat moss in bottom of the furrow. Sow the seed and cover them with another layer of peat moss. Apply a layer of Garden-Tone organic vegetable food and hill up soil on both sides of the furrow and tamp down with the hoe blade for great soil contact. Side-dress once a month with Garden-Tone and hill it in on both sides of the row. As autumn moves to cooler temperatures, apply a layer of crushed leaves between the rows to protect them from frost and winter temperatures.

The foggy countdown of August fogs ends

Today ends the countdown of August fogs for 2023. We hope you have recorded all of them each morning whether the fogs were light, medium, or heavy. They could indicate the number and size of the snows that we can expect this winter. Who knows, the forecasts may be as predictable as some of the weather experts who miss about as many as they hit.

Plenty of dogwood berries this year

Another weather prophet is in the red berries on the limbs of dogwood trees as we get ready for the arrival of September. We keep a close eye on the quantity of crimson berries as we move into early September because as we end the month of August, birds discover them and make them apart of their diet. We get a more accurate count if we start checking their numbers as September begins. Dogwoods filled with a harvest of berries in early autumn forecasts a cold, snowy and wet winter.

Making a apple butter pound cake

Pound cakes are great in all the seasons of the year and especially during the season of autumn. This is a great recipe simply because it is moist and spicy. You will need two cups plain flour, one cup yellow corn meal, two teaspoons baking powder, two teaspoons McCormack apple pie spices, half teaspoon salt, one cop White House apple butter, one teaspoon vanilla, one cup sugar, one cup light brown sugar, two sticks light margarine (softened), one eight ounce box cream cheese (softened), two large eggs, and one cup golden raisins. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan and flour. Line bottom of pan with foil and grease and flour it. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, apple pie spices, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine apple butter and vanilla. In another bowl, beat sugars, light margarine and cream cheese until creamy. Add eggs one at a time beating well, Add the flour-cornmeal mixture and then mix with apple butter mixture. Add the cup of golden raisins and stir into the batter. Spoon into the prepared tube pan and bake 10 to 15 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes and remove from pan. Allow the cake to cool completely. For the glaze, mix one cup 10x powdered sugar, four teaspoons milk, (more if needed), two teaspoons of light karo corn syrup, one teaspoon vanilla, and one teaspoon apple pie spices, Conbine all these ingredients and drizzle over the cake.

September is splendor for all crops

The month of September offers much for the cool weather garden and also the food weather garden and also the added bonus of less weeds and very few insects and lower humidity. The soil is cooling down and temperatures are comfortable to pave the way for easier working conditions. You can sow turnip salad greens, purple top turnips, curly mustard, Siberian Kale, curly kale, onion sets, broccoli, collards, cabbage, and cauliflower. Use Plant-Tone and Garden-Tone organic plant and vegetable foods to give cool weather vegetables a great start. Use the water wand to moisten the soil when very little rain falls during the week.

Plenty of garden residue for compost

As the warm weather vegetables of summer begin to wind down they provide plenty of vines stalks stems and residue to add to the ingredients of the compost bin or pile. Run the mower over them and break them down before adding to the compost bin. Grass clippings can also be an addition to the compost to heat up and break down the materials. Add a bag of Garden-Tone organic vegetable food to help add some heat to the compost. Run the mover over yard and shrub trimmings and add them to the compost as well as spent summer annuals as you replace them with pansies, ornamental cabbage, kale and mums!

Pansy plants are now in garden centers

The colorful flowers of autumn, winter, and into early spring are brightening hardware’s, nurseries, garden centers, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement and Ace Hardware. You can purchase them in six and nine-packs and you can save money by buying them a flat of a dozen six packs. Pansies are very winter-hardy and produce color and dark green foliage in cold temperatures. They can be planted in beds, baskets, and containers. You can promote their growth with pansy booster or Flower-Tone organic flower food. Pansies are available in many colors and varieties including yellow, purple, white pink, wine, lavender, tan, and brown.

Recycling potting medium for the annuals of autumn

As you start the autumn annuals, you can recycle the medium that summer annuals were planted in by removing the summer annuals and placing in the compost bin or pile. Pour the medium into the wheel barrow and add a 50 percent mixture of new medium, 25 percent peat moss and several cupfuls of Flower-Tone organic flower food and a small bag of Black Kow composted cow manure. Mix all these ingredients together, water and fill pots, baskets and containers with this powerful medium.

Highlighting the annuals of autumn

Colorize your porch beds or deck with the autumn and winter annuals during the days of September. You can choose from pansies in a variety of colors, mums in the colors of yellow, white, pink, purple, lavender, bronze and burgundy. Keep them toward the back of the porch or deck to protect from extreme cold cold. Ornamental kale and cabbage can also be planted in individual pots and containers and placed at rear of the deck, porch, or carport.

Destroying the last attack of the weeds

Give the weeds their last stand in the 2023 garden by pulling them up by the roots and throwing them out of the garden and mowing over them with the lawn mower. Pull up the morning glories by their drill bit roots and place in the garbage can. Lamb’s quarters, nut grass, and Bermuda grass need to also be pulled up by the roots and thrown out of the garden. Never use herbicides or any weed killed on the garden because they can be hazardous to your health

Hoe hoe hoedown

“Simple Remote!” A older man went shopping for a television. He told the salesman he wanted a t.v. with a simple remote that had less buttons than his age.

“Prescription Alert” Wife: “I feel that I’ve been cheated on my medication.” Husband: “Why do you feel that way?” Wife: “Well, your medication has more interesting side effects.”

“Open and shut case!” Jake: “What’s the difference between a blabber mouth and a book?” Blake: “You can always close a book!”

“Riddle diddle.” Duke: “What do you call a coat that catches on fire?” Kook: “A blazer.”

Chance of Rain: 0%

Sunrise: 06:51:57 AM

Sunset: 07:51:07 PM

Humidity: 49%

Wind: NE @ 7 mph

UV Index: 7 High

Clear skies. Low 56F. Winds light and variable.

Chance of Rain: 4%

Sunrise: 06:52:44 AM

Sunset: 07:49:43 PM

Humidity: 58%

Wind: NE @ 6 mph

UV Index: 9 Very High

A few clouds. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable.

Chance of Rain: 6%

Sunrise: 06:53:32 AM

Sunset: 07:48:18 PM

Humidity: 64%

Wind: ENE @ 3 mph

UV Index: 9 Very High

Clear skies. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable.

Chance of Rain: 8%

Sunrise: 06:54:19 AM

Sunset: 07:46:53 PM

Humidity: 62%

Wind: N @ 3 mph

UV Index: 9 Very High

Clear skies. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.

Chance of Rain: 6%

Sunrise: 06:55:07 AM

Sunset: 07:45:28 PM

Humidity: 58%

Wind: N @ 4 mph

UV Index: 9 Very High

Clear. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.

Chance of Rain: 5%

Sunrise: 06:55:54 AM

Sunset: 07:44:02 PM

Humidity: 57%

Wind: NNE @ 4 mph

UV Index: 9 Very High

Clear skies. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.

Chance of Rain: 15%

Sunrise: 06:56:41 AM

Sunset: 07:42:35 PM

Humidity: 63%

Wind: NE @ 4 mph

UV Index: 8 Very High

Mostly clear skies. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.