The September Garden

Mid-September always brings a combination plate to the Saint Plotniko gardener. On one hand you have plants in full bloom, such as the fuschia above and these Naked Ladies.



The Night Blooming Jasmine usually blooms earlier in the summer, but this year has been delayed, even though the weather has been far warmer than usual. But now it's here, and the Rear Acreage at the Meatball Kitchen smells better than chili dog cologne. A few Sungold tomatoes are still hanging over the deck railing.



The green pippins are having their early drop earlier than usual this year -- normally the bulk of the crop is ready for Thanksgiving apple pies, if you wanted to make apple pies out of apples with so little juice. They're really no good for anything but applesauce, but you have to fight the squirrels and other rodents for the fruit, and then cut out all the teeth marks.



It's also the time of year when plants that have been in full production since Spring begin to go to seed, like these onions.



Shiso is at the end of its run...too bad we never figured out how to use any...



And so is parsley.



The arugula already went to seed when the weather got hot and is now sprouting again in the VAA (Vast Arugula Acreage).



Basil is still in great shape.



The Crown of Thorns plants that were given to the Plotniks in LA in the Spring are now flowering in red, yellow and these two that seem to be both.



It's not the East, where one day everything is looking great and then you have one hard frost and the next morning everything looks like brown cheese. The West is more subtle. Saint Plotniko usually has its Indian Summer in October, the hottest weather of the year, but this year has been so strange. We may have used up all our available hot days already. In the meantime, The Great Plotnik plants winter crops in a few weeks, if there is no tsunami.