Putting BY

September 2011
Pickaway to Garden
Putting by
By Paul Hang
September’s full moon occurs on the 13th of the month. It is the Harvest Moon which seems too early. The Harvest Moon is defined as the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox so Septembers’ full moon wins out over the full moon of October for this year’s title. The equinox (equal nights) marks the end of summer and the beginning of fall which begins on the 23rd. The September full moon was also called the Corn Moon and the Cherokees called it the Nut Moon as tree nuts often ripen then. Whatever you call it, I go nuts over corn, sweet that is. We have eaten quite a lot of it this year grown by a local farmer. Now we are gorging on tomatoes and green beans grown in our garden. So the Harvest Moon seems appropriate.
With all that harvesting there is a lot left over (think zucchini!). At our place we share some (how about giving to a food bank?) but we also put some by. Ever since I was a kid I have enjoyed seeing shelves full of jars of home canned food stacked in the basement. It gives me a secure feeling, like seeing cords of split wood stacked up in preparation for the winter’s crackling fires. Once, in the basement of a childhood friend, I was admiring all the canned goods his family had put by when a group of brownish colored jars caught my eye. I asked, “What’s in those?” His reply, “Squirrel.”
If you have some excess produce why not try putting some by? Don’t have any excess or maybe a crop or two failed this year or, maybe you don’t have a garden? Go to the Farmers’ Markets and buy extra to preserve for those cold dark winter days that are coming.
With all those extras, freez’em, can’em, dry’em, pickle’em, jelly’em or jam’em. Pick your methods. Doing so will give you a new outlook on food and more closely bind you to the change of seasons. The experience may even tempt you to start a garden next spring. Our ancestors (not so long ago) raised a lot of their food and preserved it. Now we have made an implicit contract with society to preserve our food for us. We go to the grocery store and expect that the food will be there and that it will be safe and healthy to consume. We are reliant on our food systems, from the growing to the delivery and the preservation of the food that sustains us. We claim to be self-reliant and boast about our individualism but we are very dependent on our farmers and our food system. They in turn are dependent on the weather and other uncertainties.
Putting food by, preserving, storing up, caching, larding, squirreling away, however you care to say it, is a habit worth cultivating. I know that being a locavore, eating food grown locally, is all the rage among the “with it.” However, it is a good thing. Food is fresher, better tasting and probably more nutritious when obtained close to home. Eating local also uses less energy. Eating in season also saves money. While fruits and vegetables are in season also consider putting some by.
My Master Gardener Manual lists the most nutritious vegetables as: beet greens, broccoli, collards, kale, lima beans, mustard greens, peas, potatoes, soybeans, spinach, tomatoes and turnip greens. Some of those are eaten fresh some can be put by.
Speaking of Master Gardeners, our new training class that began August16th has 16 students from three counties, 11 from Pickaway. Individual classes so far have been Basic Botany, Plant Pathology and Soils and Fertilizers. The next series of classes will be forming in the Spring of 2013, unless demand makes it sooner.
Things to do in the garden:
Collect, dry and store seeds for next year. Use only heirloom varieties, hybrids will not grow true. Harvest and cure winter squash and gourds if they are ready. Leave a two inch stem. Gourds should be finished with growth before you cut them from the vine, store indoors at 60 degrees.
Clean up the garden. Cleanliness in the garden is crucial but neatness, not so much. The director of the Denver, Colorado Botanical Garden said on a TV program that “Sometimes we are too tidy in our gardens.” I agree. You can leave seed heads such as coneflower and rudbeckia for the birds, for visual interest and, if you are like me, it helps identify those plants in the spring before their identifying leaves appear.
In the butterfly garden you will surely want to leave the host plants as they are harboring the overwintering eggs and larvae of next year’s butterflies. Those plants that you don’t want to re-seed by all means remove them before their seeds are scattered. In the vegetable garden remove dead plants. Clean up old fruit around fruit trees.
Now is the time to plant spring flowering bulbs. You can plant onion seed now for early green onions and bulbs. Yes, onions are bulbs. You can still plant cool season vegetables. Experiment.
September is the best time to plant grass seed. If you only fertilize your lawn once a year, or if you have never fertilized it, fall is the best time to do it. Cooler, wetter (usually) weather promotes good root growth and your grass will start out next spring healthier and ready for more vigorous growth. Want to really get your lawn in shape? Fertilize in September and then again around Thanksgiving. Labor Day and Veterans’ Day are easy to remember. Read directions for amounts.
Later in the month, and better in October, plant garlic. Cloves from store bought garlic works. Separate the cloves and plant a couple inches apart. You can also order favorite varieties. Harvest garlic around the 4th of July.
In those areas that are not to be fall planted, plant a cover crop or “green manure” that will be turned in in the spring. Buckwheat, annual rye, sweet clover, winter barley, wheat soybeans, alfal