Here it is October, and with it, a major shift in the garden. Even though we still have very warm days (mid-80's for much of the month), the nights are in the 50's and we can feel the change of seasons. Acorns are dropping from the oaks. All the deciduous trees are starting to shut down photosynthesis and halt chlorophyll production; allowing the hidden pigments in the leaves to shine red and gold before abscission. It's time to change your irrigation schedule, and drop it down some, since the plants aren't transpiring as much for as long. And as for planting, here is your to-do list for October.
At Poppy Corners, we've picked the last of the cucumbers and removed the vines, replacing them with braising greens and spinach. We've dug the volunteer potatoes, yielding about 5 pounds (not bad for something we didn't even plan on having!). We'll have our last basil pesto tomorrow night. Some of the tomato are clearly finished fruiting and are being removed to the compost pile. Others have fruit that is ripening fast, and will stay in the ground another week. The pepper plants still have a lot of fruit on them, and I am loathe to remove them just yet. So next weekend will see us removing the main bulk of the summer garden and digging out tomato stakes. Then it will be time to get garlic and shallots in the ground, as well as our main winter crop of winter wheat and clover.
And since I didn't have any pumpkins ripen here, I guess a trip to a pumpkin patch is in order! That should be fun.