Landscapes, Gardens & More in the Florida Panhandle

September 2017

Vegetable Gardens

This is an amazing month. Summer is ending and fall is beginning according to the calendar. It is still hot in the panhandle of Florida, but by late September we will have a few fall type mornings that are refreshing and invigorating.

It is time to finish the things of summer and begin the fall planting in the garden. Hopefully your peas and tomatoes for the fall are well on the way to maturing. Check your herbs. Some of them are perennials and some are annuals. As a reminder some of the perennials ones are cardamom, chives, fennel, garlic, ginseng, ginger , lemon balm, marjoram, mints, oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme. Be sure to harvest the annual ones at the right time for storage.

Now is the time to put in the real fall garden. Greens are the main plant of fall gardens. Your local plant stores usually have these on hand by the first of the month. Collards, turnips, lettuce, kale, broccoli, and many others are just waiting to be planted so they are ready for the Thanksgiving feast. Also it is time to start strawberries and carrots.

If you have not already prepared the soil or raised beds for these, it is not too late. Go ahead and get the soil ready and start planting. If you are doing raised beds, be sure and add back a healthy dose of minor minerals because soilless media does not retain them well.

Beds

Continue weeding your shrub beds and be sure you are supplying enough water for the plants. As the summer annual beds continue to go to seed and you are doing the maintenance, consider what you are going to choose to replace them with for the fall. There are many plants that can be used but for a change consider the decorative cabbage and colored lettuce and kale for these areas. Arugula is also a good choice. Many of these plants are quite showy and edible.

Lawns

Things are getting dry so be careful in your lawn. You may choose to irrigate to prolong the growing season. Do not quit mowing too soon and let the fall weeds bloom and seed in the lawn. This will give you problems next season. Mowing the flowers off before seeds form will help prevent seed for next year.