Changes for the Garden
Magnolia Gardens Ending
September leads into the fall period of picking apples and going to corn mazes. It has been a few years since we last did that up in Massachusetts, going to a maze during Covid. The maze was very nice, neat and clean with lots of people trying to find their way through.
This is my 7th season of trying to have a nice looking backyard garden that produces fruits and vegetables worth sharing with family and friends. Each year I run into the same problem, weeds take over the garden and healthy crops end up getting destroyed earlier than normal.
Despite every effort to keep up with weeding, it is the weeds that win the contest, hands down. For example, I have weeded the blueberries 4 times this growing season. I lost a big crop due to an early frost and then weeds became the narrative. My third weeding experience resulted in 5 huge buckets of weeds that filled my entire recycle bin. Today, the blueberries are again under weed stress like never before.
Since I am cutting the lawn between two and three times a week, I figured out why the veggie garden is under attack, season by season. Hot, humid, wet weather comes across as being the culprit, rather than anything I haven't done. Two weeks of weed growth is like not cutting the lawn 4-6 times in a row. You can image what the grass would look like. This fact is the reason, in my opinion, for the huge amount of garden weeds.
I am going to try and move the majority of garden vegetable plantings closer to the house, where I can keep a closer eye on each row of veggies. I intend to build raised beds (wood or metal) to better control any weed invasion. This will take quite some effort, as I will also have to fix how the lawn sprinklers will work and having to install drip irrigation.
With temperatures finally dropping a bit, fall cleanup begins in earnest, one small step at a time. I have learned to focus on one project at a time, giving enough time to get to finish the project before being distracted by other projects. There is lots to do, but the doing can be fun, as cleanup of dead plants, weeds and other items needing attention, get it. I am hoping I can get at least 50% of the projects I have ahead of me done before it gets too cold to work outside. Two projects take priority: the lawn needs to be detached and the back veggie garden needs to be taken down (cleaned up of left over veggies and lots and lots of weeds.
Below are photos of my garden on September 15, 2026….not a pretty sight, to be sure.
This is my 7th season of trying to have a nice looking backyard garden that produces fruits and vegetables worth sharing with family and friends. Each year I run into the same problem, weeds take over the garden and healthy crops end up getting destroyed earlier than normal.
Despite every effort to keep up with weeding, it is the weeds that win the contest, hands down. For example, I have weeded the blueberries 4 times this growing season. I lost a big crop due to an early frost and then weeds became the narrative. My third weeding experience resulted in 5 huge buckets of weeds that filled my entire recycle bin. Today, the blueberries are again under weed stress like never before.
Since I am cutting the lawn between two and three times a week, I figured out why the veggie garden is under attack, season by season. Hot, humid, wet weather comes across as being the culprit, rather than anything I haven't done. Two weeks of weed growth is like not cutting the lawn 4-6 times in a row. You can image what the grass would look like. This fact is the reason, in my opinion, for the huge amount of garden weeds.
I am going to try and move the majority of garden vegetable plantings closer to the house, where I can keep a closer eye on each row of veggies. I intend to build raised beds (wood or metal) to better control any weed invasion. This will take quite some effort, as I will also have to fix how the lawn sprinklers will work and having to install drip irrigation.
With temperatures finally dropping a bit, fall cleanup begins in earnest, one small step at a time. I have learned to focus on one project at a time, giving enough time to get to finish the project before being distracted by other projects. There is lots to do, but the doing can be fun, as cleanup of dead plants, weeds and other items needing attention, get it. I am hoping I can get at least 50% of the projects I have ahead of me done before it gets too cold to work outside. Two projects take priority: the lawn needs to be detached and the back veggie garden needs to be taken down (cleaned up of left over veggies and lots and lots of weeds.
Below are photos of my garden on September 15, 2026….not a pretty sight, to be sure.
There are six blueberry bushes hidden in those weeds, despite having cleanup out the area three times this season.
Strawberry field, covered with plastic, weeded out early. Now, weeds galore. There are at least 80 plants hidden in the weeds.
Late season pickles and cucumbers, damaged by lack of rain and weeds.
Late season peas, lots of flowers, so far.
