September is one of the busiest months of the year for our garden. Fruit and vegetables mature, heat intensifies, canning equipment comes out, and we prepare for all of the food preservation that will soon come our way. Let’s take a look at whats on my September Gardening Check List!
I am sharing monthly garden to-do lists here on the blog for two reasons: for my future self to refer back to and for fellow gardeners to see the types of things I’m doing each month to stay on top of the garden. Go back and check out my August Gardening Check List and July Gardening Check List o see what I was up to in the previous months.
Here’s what I’m planning to do for the garden the month of September:
- Harvesting
- Freezing tomatoes
- Food preservation
- Cleaning up
- Saving Seeds
September Gardening Check List
Harvesting:
While the bulk of our harvests was in August, September also holds its fair share! Tomatoes are all over the plants, the corn is producing silks, beans are abundant, and the peppers are nearly turning red! I’m pulling a little bit out every day, but soon it will be basket-fulls of tomatoes and the cucumbers will grow three inches overnight if I don’t stay on top of them.
I find that its a lot less overwhelming to do a little bit of harvesting every day rather than one or two bigger harvests each week.
Freezing Tomatoes
Just like last month, rather than making lots of small batches of tomato sauce, I like to freeze tomatoes until I have enough for making and preserving a few large batches all at once. Any paste tomatoes that ripen this month will be placed into the freezer for a later date.
When the time comes, I’ll pull them out of the freezer to thaw overnight, run them through my food mill, begin simmering the sauce down to the consistency that I want, and preserve it in pint jars.
Food Preservation:
I’ll be busy pressure canning tomato sauce and salsa while also freezing green beans, diced tomatoes, and chopped peppers. This tasks is certainly the most time consuming on my September to-do list! The hours in the kitchen are challenging, but so very worth it once I can sit back in winter and admire all the jars of food we grew for our family!
Cleaning Up:
The summer garden doesn’t typically come to a complete close until October, but I tend to do little bits of clean up in September. This task all depends on when the first frost comes. September clean up may look like putting the electric fence away, pulling dead sunflowers, or putting away tomato cages. We’ll have to wait and see how long this year’s frost gives us to work in the garden.
Saving Seeds:
This chore is exactly as it sounds…I’ll be saving seeds from this year’s harvests to use in next year’s garden. I hope to save seeds from bell peppers, roma tomatoes, sunflowers, and zinnias.
I have posts on Why Seed Saving is So Beneficial, and How to Save Tomato Seeds for Next Year if you’re interested in learning more on this topic!
More Gardening To-Do Lists:
- August Gardening Check List
- July Gardening Check List
- Gardening To-Do List | June
- Gardening To-Do List | May
- Gardening To-Do List | April