Fall back. It’s official. The second day of September, the first days of meteorological autumn. It is the equinox this month. The sun is closing on its winter low. Sap’s slowing, returning to soil. It’s the time of the first frosts, time to stop feed. We are leaving the months of growth.
Time, though, to save seed. I am prone to the sexy allure of a seed packet but to sow food or flowers you’ve saved yourself is a special kind of joy. So leave the last peas to dry on the stem, the same with beans, select a few fat pods and resist the urge to eat them.
I always save calendula, of course. They remind me of my brother. It is the most handsome seed, like a marine fossil, a baby seahorse skeleton. I’ll sow some too early next year, testing the ground for warmth (though actually sitting on it works as well). They’ll lie dormant till it’s time to germinate.
I am also saving chards, purple orache, burgundy amaranth, tear peas, coriander, a few other things. I might try sweet peas, though I’ve already started glancing at the 2019 Roger Parsons catalogue. I will leave a proper look for a wet winter’s day.
There is still time to grow spinach for spring – a last throw of Oriental leaves: hardier mustards, mibuna, mizuna; to sow coriander and let it flower, a beautiful, ethereal thing, to leave to seed for cooking.
Plant garlic and autumn onion sets if you need to see winter green. I haven’t for a while, though I might succumb. I will pine for planting.
Clear ground, turn compost, collect leaf mould, remember to weed. September is a garden-housekeeping month. The hot days have had me here every day. I have been a constant gardener. It is time to let frequency fall.
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