Seasonal

Early September: stop sowing or keep going?

*Morning mist in the Makkelijke Moestuin*

"Hey Jelle, what are you doing in the garden now? Or is the season over?"

This question pops up around the end of August. When the garden's all misty and cool, I get it.

But stopping? Already? It's not even fall yet. And before winter sets in you can still do a lot.

It's actually a great time for the garden: the seeds sprout fast and the plants that are already there get an extra burst of energyy. Even the plants you pretty much wrote off.

Come on, I'll take you on a tour of my garden:

Re-energized plants

A lot of vegetables get an extra burst of energy at this point in the season.

I almost wanted to get rid of the Romano pole beans and bacon beans a few weeks ago, they looked so sad.

But I kept them around, and check them out now:

New runner beans growing in the Makkelijke Moestuin in September — *Bacon beans look good these days*

Look at those new leaves, shoots, and flowers. What is this, spring?

The butter beans I sowed at the end of July - yeah, I know the app says that's too late, but I tried anyway 😉 - look promising.

The butter beans sowed at the end of July look healthy and strong in September — *The butter beans sown at the end of July are starting to bloom*

A long, hot summer helps with that. Let's hope it stays mild.

Cucumbers, tomatoes and zucchinis

Summer vegetables keep going strong.

Cucumbers

See, the cucumbers are still in full bloom:

Flowering cucumber in the Makkelijke Moestuin in early September — *Baby cucumbers on the vine*

As if we needed more. The fridge is filled with them:

Cucumbers keep best when stored in the refrigerator and wrapped in a damp towel — *Cucumbers stay good longer wrapped in a damp towel*

The plant itself will start to look less appealing, but in good weather, new cucumbers can grow for a long time.

Zucchini

Zucchinis just won't stop growing. I have to tie them up every few days as the vine stretches along the trellis.

Attach your climbing zucchini to your trellis as it grows longer — *Attach your zucchini plant to your trellis as it climbs*

In rainy or cold weather, mildew quickly rears its ugly head. The first signs look like this:

White mildew can be quick to appear on cucumber leaves after wet or cold weather — *White mildew on the leaves*

It's a quick fix. Just cut off any leaves with mildew on them. And do it right away: you want to prevent it from spreading.

You can find our tips identifying and treating mildew here.

Sometimes even that's too much of a hassle for me. And in my experience, plants with mildew last a pretty long time. Usually, they keep growing until the real cold sets in.

Tomatoes

These yellomatoes are overflowing from the MM-Mini.

Yellomatoes - Gourmandise cherry tomatoes - overflowing from an MM-mini grow bag — *Yellomatoes galore*

And the bush tomatoes look great too:

Bush tomato Maya in an MM-Mini — *Bush tomato in an MM-Mini*

Every day we harvest tons of super-sweet cherry tomatoes too.

Topping time

If you want as many ripe tomatoes as possible, then it's time to prune the tops. The plant will direct all its energy to ripening the tomatoes that are already there, instead of producing new flowers and fruits.

Topping is easy: just cut the main stem off above the highest bunch of tomatoes:

A topped tomato plant at the end of August — *A topped tomato plant*

But watch out: if you top a tomato plant, it will grow more suckers. Snip or pinch them off as soon as you see them.

Your plants won't be winning any beauty contests anymore, that's for sure.

Ugly leaves on the tomato plant — *Ugly tomato leaves*

Cut off any sad-looking leaves while you're at it. Don't be shy, the professional growers do it too:

Bare tomato plant: as long as you leave a few leaves when pruning, your plant will be fine — *Bare cherry tomato plant in August*

And remove any leaves that block the sun from your tomato fruits.

As long as you leave about 4-5 leaves, the plant will get enough nutrients.

Tomato blight

It rains more this time of year, so I keep a close eye on my tomatoes. Rainy weather increases the chance of tomato or potato disease - Phytophthora infestans.

Read here what it is and what you can do about it.

As soon as I see the first sickly leaf, I immediately remove it. And remove any tomatoes that turn a strange brownish color.

Sugar snaps and snow peas

Snow peas and sugar snaps sown in early August will be growing really well now.

Depending on the weather, the first flowers should be out and the snow peas should be popping up soon.

And when they do, make sure you pick them quickly. Because at this time of year, your plants only want one thing: to produce offspring. They produce their seeds - the peas - faster than in the spring.

In the fall, the peas inside the pods grow faster than un the spring — *The peas inside the pods grow really fast*

Harvest, harvest, harvest

In the meantime, we're harvesting our fill of cucumbers, tomatoes, and zucchinis. It's almost embarrassing how much the plants produce. That's why we often put some out on the street:

Surplus vegetables from the Makkelijke Moestuin offered free by the roadside — *Free zucchinis anyone?*

Does everything always go perfectly?

Well, no. It's still nature we're talking about. You've got heat waves - we've had them a couple summers in a row now - and those are tough on the plants. Then a lot of annoying critters show up. Apparently extreme temperatures don't bug them 😛

Saskia is always quick to remove any duds, so I don't have a lot of examples to show you.

Except for this chard that bolted:

Bolted chard at the start of September — *Chard going to seed*

That's pretty weird because chard usually only flowers in its 2nd year.

Dino kale often looks pretty busted around this time. Thanks, butterflies and caterpillars 😉

But you'll see: it'll look beautiful again in the fall. These plants are tough as nails.

Dino kale can handle damage done by hungry caterpillars and butterfly attacks — *Dino kale will keep on growing*

Keep your patches full

The season is far from over. With a bit of luck, you've got another two to three months before it gets really cold.

Don't be too shy about removing some of your plants even if you haven't harvested everything yet.

You can sow again immediately in those empty patches. If most of the plants are ready to harvest, I'll harvest the rest along with them.

The last beets in the beet patch: if most are ready to harvest, pull out the little ones too — *Harvest the smaller stragglers so you can sow again*

Sow empty squares again straight away. This is how you make the most of your raised bed.

Starting in September: What can you still sow right now?

The app shows you exactly what and where to sow.

Dino kale and marigold are also options. Sow them now for next spring.

Newly sown Makkelijke Moestuin squares in late August or early September — *Freshly sown vegetable patches*

I even sow Asian salad mix. Not all the varieties in there will grow well now, but the mizuna and the mustard should still come up.

They can handle the cold really well, so I'll leave them to grow for a while. lot. With a bit of luck, I can harvest them all winter. Great for stir-frying 😀

Not up for more gardening?

Every now and then, I hear from someone who has become so discouraged by extreme heat and drought, plants being eaten, and other setbacks that they give up.

I understand, especially when you have only just started. But what looks hopeless now can look wonderful before long. Nowhere offers as much variety and as many new chances as a garden.

And if you have lost interest for now, that is no problem either. I sometimes neglect my raised beds too. Even that can be fun.

For example, I found this today:

Violets sow themselves in a forgotten raised bed — *Violet invaders 😉*

That weed is rather lovely, isn't it?

Overgrown raised beds

Imagine letting your raised beds become completely overgrown. Even then, nothing is lost.

A Makkelijke Moestuin is easy to put right again. Pull everything out, mix in some extra plant food, turn everything over thoroughly, and there you are: after barely an hour, your raised bed is ready for sowing again.

You can do that now in September or next spring.

Want to start right now?

That's no problem either. Even if you don't have a lot of space. Just look at our MM-Minis:

Makkelijke Moestuin gardening in raised beds and MM-Minis — *A full garden made of MM-Mini grow bags*

What I want to say is: you don't have to do anything, but everything's possible. Just do what you want. That's why you started this adventure, right?

Because what could be better than picking your own homegrown vegetables?

Harvesting from raised beds in September — *Harvested veg all together now*

Now you know what my Makkelijke Moestuin looks like in late August and early September.

Will you let me know how yours is doing? You can post in the community. I look forward to seeing it!

See you soon,