To all the lovely people,

Welcome to fall. I hope you all had a great summer garden season. We are bringing in buckets of tomatoes and apples - juicing the apples mostly but we are also enjoying apple crisp and pie. The juice has been excellent - I usually add a carrot or two, one hot pepper, and maybe a kale leaf to each gallon and freeze it in 1/2 gallon jars. We also have a lot of different varieties of hot peppers and we will be roasting, drying, and trying fermenting with some this year. I have small fall garden in and will be planting our garlic in a few weeks. After the first rain we will plant our cover crop. 

USDA Zone 9

• For spring bloom, broadcast wildflower seeds over soil that has been lightly cultivated.
• Plant fast-growing, frost-resistant veggies: radishes, mustard, spinach, ‘Tokyo Market' turnips, and corn salad.
• Divide and transplant bearded irises, daylilies, phlox, cannas, and Shasta daisies.
• Harvest sweet potatoes after tops wither, but before the first hard frost.
• Harvest winter squash, pumpkins, and peanuts before frost.
• Clean up fallen fruit in the orchard.
• Build a hot compost pile to kill pathogens lurking in garden debris: Use a high-nitrogen material, such as grass clippings or seafood shells.

USDA Zone 10

• Mulch and water well—dry spells this month can last a week or longer.
• Finish pruning fruit trees so new sprouts can harden before cold arrives.
• Plant colorful bloomers, such as sweet alyssum, begonias, petunias, and pansies.
• Prepare beds for planting roses; plant them late this month.
• Fertilize plants that flower in winter.
• Plant strawberries and brassicas (except brussels sprouts—it's too warm) early in the month.
• In midmonth, direct-seed root crops and beans.
• Near the end of the month, sow lettuce, spinach, and other greens.