FROM THE EARTH - MONTHLY

September is a very busy time for the garden and landscaping. Finishing up all the fruits and vegetables that are still growing, and cleaning up beds for the fall.

This year, I had time to gather persimmons. I made a batch of mini-loaf bread. It takes 15-20 wild persimmons to make 1 cup of pulp. It is an act of love to do this, yet the taste is amazing and only available in the fall. It is said that one persimmon delivers 55% of the recommended intake of vitamin A. If you want to attract deer, they love them as well, and will quickly clean up any of the remaining fruit. Our chickens also gobble up any we throw into the coop.

This is also the time for seed collecting. I gather seeds from vegetables, annuals and wildflowers to plant for the next season. I have had people ask where to get organic seeds. This is what you do, Buy any seed, grow the plants organically, then harvest your own seeds. You can guarantee the quality and purity from chemicals when you do that. Also, the plants from your harvested seeds, typically are stronger and more adept to your soil and climate.

August is canning and preserving season, from tomatoes to green beans, peppers to cucumbers. Each year I work to learn more about this historic skill I first learned as a child.

I will never forget the day we had collected tomatoes to sell in neighboring town of Kirkwood. We had regular customers who looked for us to stop by weekly to sell from the back end of mom's station wagon. Unfortunately, that day, my sister and I were horsing around and i fell on the freshly prepared, washed and polished tomatoes. Mom did not get mad, she simply said, "girls, it is time you lean how to can. You will not be able to sell any of these."

That was a blow to us because we usually earned $50 each for the sale of tomatoes and peppers. We spent the whole day pealing, coring, and cutting tomatoes, while mom pleasantly smiled as she knew we had been taught a couple of great lessons: How to can and how to treasure your sales produce.

We never again made that mistake. With our proceeds, I was able to purchase my first horse, Blaze, and the food for him for the year.

Yesterday, I canned 6 pints and 6 quarts of tomatoes. there is noting better than getting a jar of canned tomatoes out of your pantry, when you know the ingredients are tomatoes, salt and a basil leaf, all grown organically from your own back yard.

I have also canned 12 pints of green beans (ingredients, beans, water, 1/2 teasp salt) 3 one half pints of chili peppers, and 4 jars of salsa. In the past I have done Tobacco sauce (green and red), pickles, relish, grape jelly. Each year, I want to add home preserved items to my pantry.

in July, it mostly maintenance of the gardens, flowing and vegetable. the biggest concerns are pests, both 4-legged and 6-legged, and water. I also work diligently to attract beneficial insects and hummingbirds.

I am often asked, How do you keep the deer from eating your Hostas and bedding plants? It takes vigilance and the right product. I use Liquid Fence and order it online from Chewy.com. It is less expensive than getting it from the hardware store and you can get the larger bottles. The key to success is to apply it regularly and often. I do this in the evening before we sit down to dinner, especially after rain or watering. You can apply it directly on the plants or spray the ground in front of the beds..

In my vegetable garden, I use lots of straw to keep moisture in the ground and control weeds. It also helps to add nutrients to the soil, so the number of insect pests are minimized. Adding in plants that naturally attract or repel insects, my garden is pesticide-free and bountiful.

I am not sure exactly where June went. Between the gardens and my Real Estate practice, the days flew by. I will attempt to recap the events and I am sure I will miss some details.

May set us up for a bumper crop of strawberries - we got a couple peck baskets full. I got the garden in and nursed the grapes back to vigor (they had died out after that April freeze). My spring feeding regiment helped the vines to recover and it looks like we are going to have a bigger crop this year than we did last year.

All in all, the spring to summer has been great for the flowers and vegetable plants. We are getting beans and cucumbers. I have already made cucumber salad and am now selling the surplus produce.

Key to continued success will be periodic feeding and regular watering. I had a couple of potted plants drown in all the rain we were getting, yet now the pots need a light watering daily.

I work to have abundant and always-blooming plants that attract pollinators to the yard, like this Tiger Swallowtail. I have had people ask what I feed my hummingbirds that I get so many. I simply plant what attracts them and let nature take its course.

According to old-timers, Blackberry winters play a significant role in growing its namesake plant they signal the blackberry canes to start growing.

This spring has been difficult for our orchard. We lost all the blooms and consequently the fruit from the apple and pear trees. Our vineyard did not do well either. I am now supporting the re-growth of the plant systems by feeding them and encouraging a healthy plants.

The vegetable garden is doing well. Potatoes, snow peas, onions, lettuce and asparagus are enjoying the cool days. The strawberries, likewise are doing quite well. My biggest challenge is keeping the local groundhog out of the garden.

This week had been quite challenging for the garden. With temperatures here dropping to 25 degrees, we had a lot of plants that were in danger of losing set blossoms or fruit. The apples and strawberries were the most concerning. There was really nothing I could do for my apples, however.

I covered the strawberries with a light layer of straw to protect them. Knowing they can take cooler weather, I trusted they would survive. They did. Yesterday morning as i was carefully lifting the extra straw away from the plants, it looked as if the bees were standing in line to get to the flowers and the plants and crop are going to be OK.

Just a reminder, do not plant your tomatoes or peppers in the ground until at least Mother's day. These plants like warm soil. Patience will net you a better crop of veggies.

MULCHING. Many people will use twice ground or finely ground mulch because it looks good. However, tightly packed mulch or that which is dyed is not helping to nourish plants and improve the soil. I just attempted to plant some pansies in a yard at one of my listings. The soil was hard packed, no earthworms or moisture, as opposed by my mulch, I found a night crawler that was 1/8" in diameter and 4-5" long, lots of nutrients as well. This is the environment where plants will grow very well.

What is growing in the garden in April? Lettuce, onions, some hardy herbs, and snow peas. The strawberries are blooming so they can set fruit in May. The difference in their leaves and overall appearance, since the thunderstorms this week, is amazing. Why is that so?

"Lightning breaks apart nitrogen molecules. This allows the molecules to combine with oxygen and, together, they form nitrogen oxides. The nitrogen oxides dissolve in rain and form nitrates. Nitrogen only reacts with oxygen at high temperatures and pressures associated with lightning."

This is the time to fertilize to promote healthy root systems. That includes lawns, perennials and trees. Be cautious about planting any annuals until the middle or end of the month, as frosts are still possible in the metro area and across Zone 6 (dark green zone above).

Check out the Farmer's Almanac for your First and Last Frost Dates to assure more success with your planting, and remember tomatoes like soil that is about 70 degrees or higher. Don't rush planting them. Let them mature indoors and out in the sunshine. Bring them inside until the temperatures get warmer. Transplant them into larger pots and you will have nice healthy plants and earlier fruit when you finally put them in the ground.