With this past summer winding down and the first day of autumn this Saturday, I like taking a look around before the fall chill really starts to bite down. A few leaves have begun turning color, although the real show won’t begin for a few more weeks. Small flocks of birds are starting to congregate, in preparation for their migration south for the winter. The raised beds are past their prime with the potatoes having matured, their greenery dying back. Those I will leave in the ground for the time being. Wax beans have mostly gone by, with the last batch being just enough for a meal.
Zucchini has never done well for me, with only a single zuke on the vine that looks like it might actually amount to something, the others having withered and dropped off the plant without getting any longer than my thumb. This can be due to missing soil nutrients such as calcium or inadequate pollination by insects. Since I have seen a decent population of bumblebees this summer, I suspect that the soil may be the issue. Oh well, there’s always next year.
Carrots didn’t do all that great, with poor germination by the seeds this past spring. I had to replant and even then the seed sprouted slowly in a very desultory fashion. The excess amount of rain we received this summer may have affected their growth. Those that did grow will stay as long as possible in the ground before I pull them up to see how they did.
The carrots left over from last year that I planted as an experiment, blossomed profusely. Many, though not all of the flower heads are going to seed. I noticed with some surprise that ants seemed to favor the blossoms, climbing around on top of the flower heads. My initial suspicion was that they were farming aphids, but close examination of the flowers and stems showed no sign of aphids. Apparently the ants seemed to like the flowers themselves, but whether they did any pollinating is hard to say. I have seen ants on wild sarsaparilla blossoms also, so they may do a bit of pollinating here and there.
The last few weeks of September are when stores such as Home Depot and Walmart fill up with fall mums. The grocery stores offer them up as well. There seem to be just three main colors (that I saw), white, yellow and deep purple. I haven’t seen any of the orange-bronze color yet. As many of my potted flowers are going – well – to pot, I dug some of them out and planted fall mums.
Fall wildflowers put on a bold display with goldenrod and asters predominating. My personal favorite is the New England aster.
The blossoms are a vibrant purple with orange centers. Bees, wasps and yellowjackets zoom around over these tall flowers, eagerly pollinating them. Herbalists make use of these plants, employing the stems and root for relieving pain and healing wounds. The root by itself is claimed to ease diarrhea and fever. I haven’t had occasion to try them out, much preferring to just admire them and try sowing the seed heads about after they finish blooming in the hopes of helping them spread. If this plant does have medicinal value, it’s worthwhile to have as many as possible.
That’s all for this month. Hope your summer was a pleasant one.
