Gardeners Checklist: Here Is What to Do the Week of Sept. 1

By Ron Kujawski

* Harvest dry beans when the pods are brown, feel papery, and the beans rattle in the pod. Harvesting can be done by pulling up entire plants and hanging them in an airy, dry location such as a garage, barn, or garden shed. However, I just yank mature pods off the plants and leave behind any immature pods to ripen further. Though dry beans may be threshed by placing them in a burlap bag and bashing them with a broom handle, I shell dry beans by hand, a mindless task accomplished while watching TV, another mindless activity. The shelled beans are then placed in the freezer for a few days to destroy eggs of bean weevils that may be hiding in the beans. Dry beans may be stored in the freezer or in air-tight containers. 

* Sow seeds of basil, parsley, cilantro, and other annual culinary herbs in pots for growing indoors this fall and winter. These are easy to grow indoors if given enough light. In the meantime, harvest shoots of perennial herbs such as tarragon, thyme and oregano and hang the stems in a dark, well-ventilated place for drying. Once you have a good supply of newly dried herbs, toss out dried herbs older than one year.    

* Incorporate lots of compost or rotted manure into the soil before planting peonies. Now is the ideal time to plant peonies, one of the most reliable plants in the garden. If properly planted, peonies will most likely outlast Methuselah.

* Start shopping for spring-flowering bulbs. The early bird may get the worm, but the early bulb shopper gets the best selection — of bulbs, not worms.

* Take cuttings from non-flowering shoot tips of geraniums in the garden. Cuttings should be about 4 inches long, with each cut made just below a leaf joint. Place cuttings on a bench and cover with paper towels for a day or two to allow the cut ends to callous over. Root cuttings in individual pots filled with a sterile potting mix.

* Don’t leave diseased plants hanging around in the vegetable garden. Pull up, bag up, and dispose of tomato plants infected with blight or leaf spot, squash vines with powdery mildew, and cucumbers with wilted vines. Spores of diseases will carry over through the winter on plant debris left in the garden. Disposing of diseased plants this fall will help reduce infections next year. The same holds true for diseased plants in landscape and flower gardens.

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September is an ideal time for planting trees, but there are a lot of rules to follow to ensure successful establishment of a tree. For example, plant the tree at the same depth it grew in the nursery; make sure the trunk flare (base of the trunk that naturally widens) is visible after planting; remove any twine that may be wrapped around the tree trunk; do not apply fertilizer the first year of establishment; etc.

One other rule that may become part of the tree planting agenda is: apply sugar water to the soil after transplanting. Researchers in England found that drenching the soil with a solution of about 10 ounces of sugar dissolved in one gallon of water reduced transplant shock and increased chances of survival. The sugar water was applied in doses of 4/10ths of a gallon once per week for four weeks.

Just imagine if this practice takes hold:

“Excuse me, sir, where shall we plant your tree?”

“Uh, put it over there at the edge of the lawn, Smidley.”

“Very good, sir!  Would you like one lump or two?”

Ron Kujawski began gardening at an early age on his family's onion farm in upstate New York. Although now retired, he spent most of his career teaching at the UMass Extension Service. He serves on Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Horticulture Advisory Committee. His book, Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook, is available here.