September is a month of transition at Creek Side, just like it is for everybody. The cooler weather brings a big change in crops and the beginning of new projects as we get ready for winter.
Out with the old and in with the new, as they say! Summer annuals are mostly finished for the season and the courtyard has been filled with all the bright gold, red and purple fall flowers of the season. Garden Mums, Black-Eyed Susan’s, Pansies and Flowering Kale help to create a wonderful fall-themed décor for your front porch! Add a couple of straw bales and a bunch of corn stalks along with pumpkins and your neighbors will be jealous of your amazing fall decorating talents! Ask us about our Fall Porch Kit to help get you going.
Perennial planting is terrific right now because the soil is still warm, which encourages the new roots to grow into the surrounding soil before the show flies. In the meantime, the Green Team has begun getting all of the leftover perennial plants that will be over-wintered ready for the next season. Deadheading or removal of all the old spent flower stems is the best place to begin, including the cleaning up any old foliage. Then we begin planting the smaller pots into larger pots for the winter.
We like to get a head start while it is still warm so that the roots grow out into the new soil in the larger pot. The pots are placed into the cold frames behind House 1, or an open-sided, unheated greenhouse so that they will naturally get conditioned to the upcoming cold temperatures. Later in the year they will get tucked under frost blankets to help protect them from freezing temperatures and wind through the winter months.
Nursery stock, roses, shrubs and trees have continued to grow all summer into the fall. We’ll leave them outside until early November then move them to an unheated greenhouse for protection from the winter winds. Next spring they will be pruned so they will be full and bushy.
The bee keeper stopped out last week and collected the honey frames that have been filled with honey by our resident bees all summer. Looks like it has been a pretty good season. Can’t wait to try it out!
