By Gary Crispell, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County
Hey, Y’all! It’s September, the month for football AND baseball, and hurricanes not involving curved sticks and pucks. It is the start of apple season and apparently the month for all things pumpkin spice. And since it is a leap year, we get political ads ad nauseum to go with the cooler nights and crisper air. We have already witnessed the first of four consecutive super moons. I mean, four in a row! How cool is that?
The Accidental Cottage Garden looks like most perennial gardens in September—humbly pathetic. The most ardent performers currently are the gaillardia (G. pulchella) who are still gracing us with a plethora of pulchritudinous posies. There are some marigolds (Tagetes erecta), a gaggle of evening primroses (Oenothera lamarckiana), and the reblooming balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus). Here and there one can find a coreopsis (C. lanceolata) or two, a few rudbeckias (R. hirta), and a lone zinnia (Z. elegans). We are entertained daily by goldfinches harvesting seeds from the echinacea and rudbeckia and by the multitude of butterfly species attracted to the Chinese chives (Allium tuberosum). They are a sight and identifying them has become an afternoon coffee challenge.
Even though the perennial garden begins to fade as the fall season approaches, spying a swallowtail butterfly on Gaillardia pulchella or finding those final blooms on Platycoden grandiflora is still a delight! (Image credit: NC Cooperative Extension, Curt Hiller CC BY 4.0; NC Cooperative Extension, Jim Lawerence.)
But I suppose you are looking for a calendar of some sort hinting at tasks that await in the garden this month. Well, it’s raht c’here, Y’all.
Lawn Care
This is an important month for cool season grass (tall fescue varieties, bluegrass, perennial rye) care givers. If these lawns survived June (I don’t envy your water bill in July.) they may not look too bad. For sure they got plenty of moisture in July and August (over 250% in my gauge). So, if your cool season grass looks like mine (I did not water in June. Ergo, mostly dead fescue.) this is the very best time to renovate/over seed it. One can only hope that you availed yourself of the FREE SOIL TEST service from NCDOA from April through November. That way you know exactly how much nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and lime to add to your soil to optimize it for growing grass. Then you can loosen the soil where it needs replanting and follow the recommended procedures, i.e. incorporate the lime and fertilizer, sow the seed. Roll it lightly to assure good seed/soil contact, apply a light layer of wheat straw and water it all in (~1/2”). Keep the plant bed moist until germination of most of the seeds. Warm season grass (Bermuda, zoysia, centipede) tenders just keep mowing at 1 ½” to 2” until frost at which time you can clean up the mower and put it away. Eat your hearts out, cool season people.
Fertilizing
Not much to tell here. The only plants to fertilize now are the cool season grasses mentioned above.
Planting
If you hurry just a little bit you can still plant a fall garden of salad greens and root crops. You can be the food snob at Thanksgiving with all the fresh vegetables. Most perennials can be planted now. They will have plenty of time to get established before it gets really cold. Is it going to do that anymore here in North Carolina? One can have legitimate doubts.
Pruning
OK. We have discussed this before (like the last two months here in this space). No more pruning until after Thanksgiving at the earliest. (See editorial in last paragraph.) Pruning, just don’t. Hurricane (again, no puck involved) damage is exempted from the pruning ban.
Spraying
The self-same miserable *$&#@ are still munching on/sucking dry your plants. There are wooly adelgids on hemlocks, spider mites on any and all needle-leaf evergreens, lace bugs on azaleas and pyracantha, and tea scale on euonymus and camellias. Continue any rose, bunch grape and fruit tree programs you might have going on.
Propagation
Dig and divide spring flowering bulbs (daffodils, daylilies, iris’s, etc.) this month. Peonies can be transplanted now.
Things to do outside just because it is September
Time to start strategizing for fall and winter. Unless leaves fall where they will be detrimental (physically, not necessarily aesthetically) they should be allowed to remain. LEAVE THE LEAVES. They are an over wintering habitat for many beneficial insects and they are a source of nutrients for the soil as they decompose.
Where are all of us going to put the house plants that over achieved during their summer vacation outside? Should we cut back the spent perennials for the sake of aesthetics or should we leave the flower stalks because native solitary bees and other beneficial insects like to lay their eggs on them? So many questions and with multiple answers for each question. Oh, the conundrum. Maybe it will cool off just enough that thinking about such won’t be so exhausting. Finally, just being outside in September is its own reward. Go ye therefore unto it. Felicitations for Fall, Y’all.
Resources and Additional Information
Learn more about about the advantages of leaving your leaves:
https://keepdurhambeautiful.org/leaveyourleaves
Fall is a great time to divide perennials. Here are some tips on how to do it correctly:
https://onslow.ces.ncsu.edu/2023/01/dividing-perennials-2
Thinking about a fall garden? It’s not too late! The NC Cooperative Extension has some tips for you:
https://onslow.ces.ncsu.edu/2023/07/plan-now-for-fall-harvest
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