September is a time when Sacramento gardeners breathe a collective sigh of relief. We’re harvesting summer fruits and veggies… August is behind us and cool days and rain are ahead. With gentler temperatures and the promise of rain, it’s the ideal time to plant nearly everything.
Cool-Season Veggies
They’re back! If you’re like me and you’re trying to eat more “plant-based”, September is an exciting time because we have the opportunity to grow all the power veggies like kale, broccoli, chard, cauliflower and more. While it may seem counter-intuitive to plant cold-loving plants when we are still seeing higher temperatures on some days, fear not. Many cool-season veggies have a longer maturing period, so planting seeds and starts now helps them get established in time to produce when it is cooler. If we have a hot spell, do protect your young seedlings with shade cloth.
Cool Season Annuals
Pansies are back! Seeing their joyous faces on our shelves again is salve for the gardener’s heat-weary soul. Along with pansies, we’ll start seeing on our growers’ availability lists things like snapdragons, ornamental kale,
Late-Summer Blooming Perennials
Don’t overlook late-summer bloomers like echinacea, sunflower, marigold, mimulus, coreopsis, million bells, zinnia and more. Without them, we’d be looking at a virtually colorless landscape. Some “garden experts” will start telling you to avoid summer color at the nursery. Why, when you can mix summer color sources with a few cool-season bloomers and have a gorgeous September while transitioning toward Fall/Winter bloomers. In fact we’ve seen heat lovers like million bells continue blooming well into Fall.
Bulbs
September brings the arrival of our biggest delivery of fall/winter-planted bulbs. Expect to see tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, freesia, ixia, and iris. Whenever possible, we order bulk bins of bulbs so you can see the quality of what you’re buying and can choose the firmest, fattest bulbs.
Cover Crops
Planting a cover crop in new or depleted flower and vegetable beds is a brilliant way to add nutrients and organic matter, naturally. Even if you don’t plant cover crop seeds until October or November, buying them now is a good idea because selection tends to be good.
Lawns
Toward the end of the month, plant new lawns, lay new sod, or overseed dethatched and aerated existing lawns. We like dwarf fescue blends (with a hint of bluegrass for aesthetics) that require less water and mowing. For feeding, go with a gentle organic lawn food that makes the perfect fall fertilizer.
California Native Plants
While we carry a year-round supply of California natives, we’ll increase our offerings this month because Fall is the ideal time to plant natives so they can get established over the winter. Our growers continue to impress us with their native offerings.
Wildflower Seeds
Fall is the perfect time to buy wildflower seeds for planting in Sep/Oct/Nov/Dec.
Landscape Plants
If you want to add structure or a shade source to your garden, plant shrubs, trees, vines and perennials now. That includes fruit trees and fruiting shrubs and vines!
~ Angela
