Welcome to September!

Welcome to September! First up – The mums and asters, kales, cabbages and grasses are here!  In all their glory!  The tricolor mum pots are spectacular and the individual mums are coloring more by the day.  We take care of our plants with water and fertilizer so you know they’re going to brighten up your steps, patio or deck for the long fall season. And be sure to check out the Fall Veggie Line Up of lettuces, spinach, arugula, broccoli, carrots and turnips

And then, it’s our End of Season Sale!!!  20% off all the trees, shrubs, perennials, summer color pots. These plants are well maintained, healthy plants looking to fill in those pesky holes you’ve found in your garden now that you’ve had a chance to clean it up after the summer’s distractions. Definitely know how THAT goes!! J So, come in and wander through – it’s fun even if you don’t need anything!

(Fall mums, asters, grasses are NOT included in the SALE!!)

Celebrate the 2026 Growing Season!

Celebrate the 2026 Growing Season with everyone!!! We’re rolling into the fall and it’s time to do some crowing J Send us pictures of your successes!  Your challenges!! The unexpected visitors (good and/or bad!).  We’ve heard from so many of you – and you’ve brought pictures to the store – it’s time to share!  Please use TGEsocialmedia@protonmail.com  to send us pics, add credits if you want, but it’s not necessary.  We’ll post a collage of the communities’ efforts on Facebook and on our website so that everyone can enjoy the wonder of the 2026 season. See if you can identify your friend’s and neighbor’s gardens!

Now let’s get going on the yard and garden tasks for this time of year…

Lawns – essential for sports activities and garden framing

September is the month for rehabbing your lawn.  This is especially critical after our third year of drought.  We’ve had some rain but not enough.  Anyone digging holes has found nothing but powder below the first couple of inches (and even those top inches are often dry unless under irrigation).

Use the problems that the lawn is demonstrating as the diagnostic tool that those problems are.  Weeds, diseases, insects are all symptoms of other stressors as well as problems in their own right.  If you attack the problem without understanding and fixing the underlying condition that permits the problem to exist, then you’ll rinse and repeat management steps in an effort to “fix” the problem.

Almost all problems can be dropped in to one of three boxes: Compaction, pH, and nutrition.

Here’s a quick checklist for you to work off of…

• September is THE month to rehab a lawn because nights are longer and cooler. Dew falls more reliably so seed stays moister longer.

• Most weed seeds can’t germinate until spring comes around again

• Concentrate on correcting the underlying problems that have weakened the grass (compaction, pH, nutrition) at the same time you’re sowing new seeds.

• Grass seed takes up to 3 weeks to germinate.  Be patient! Stay on task!

Problem 1:  Compaction!

• The most common problem for lawns.  Means that roots cannot penetrate easily to 4” (min for healthy turf). Confirm by digging down 4” in your lawn – examine the roots. You’ll know you have a compaction problem if you have crabgrass and dandelions – and if the ground feels like concrete under your feet when you walk across it or try to dig in it. 

• Often the result of poor-quality loam, lack of depth when spreading, lack of organic amendments, and/or constant traffic.

• Best time to deal with this is August through November when microbes can be fed to help with the problem.

• To start breaking up that compaction - use core aeration, compost, carbon support products like Magi-cal, Love your Soil, Turf-tone, alfalfa meal, and chicken food.  We can help you select what’s best for your lawn’s problems.

Problem 2:  pH

to lime of not to lime – that is the question!!

•  Lawn grasses like a pH of 6.3-6.8 for best results (neutral is 7) – just barely acid.

•  NE soils are naturally acidic (long story!). Calcium in various forms is the preferred product for adjusting the pH.

•  Most homeowners invested in their grass know they “need to lime” at least once a year.

•  Most choose the cheapest lime – dolomite lime. This can lead to problems over time (another long story!).  If problems develop, a soil test sent out to UMass Soil lab is well worth the price.  Can’t figure it out?  Bring it to the store and we’ll figure it out with you.

•  Like many things in life – enough is great!  Too much is a problem…

Problem 3:  Nutrition

• Grass likes nutrition – we think fertilizer…

• A mixed turf (grasses & clover) can be almost self-sustaining as the plants support each other, especially if the grass clippings are left on the lawn to cycle back.

• Straight grass needs nitrogen and potassium along with calcium, carbon, and other trace minerals. Young grass needs phosphorus as well.

• Conventional lawn fertilizers are often very high in nitrogen, some potassium and not much else

• Organic fertilizers work to “feed” the whole system including the microbes that help to fight compaction.  They tend to be much lower in nitrogen and more diverse in nutrition sources

• READ THE INGREDIENTS ON THE BAG!!!  Then make your decision!

To provide some calendar targets:

August - September (actual timing weather dependent)

• Key months for lawn regeneration provided there's sufficient water, either rain or irrigation.

• Core aerate. Opens up holes into the soil horizon for amendments to reach root zone.

• Work in mineral supplements like gypsum, rock phosphate, humalite/leonardite (carbon sources) if needed

• Work in composts, alfalfa meal, chicken feed and other organic supports for soil micro-organisms.

• Overseed, slice seed or otherwise sow seed in weak areas.

• Top dress: Add 1/8" compost to lawn and rake in.  Helps to create a healthy soil.

• Mow when grass reaches 3”

November

• Fertilize - Use a fall fertilizer higher in potassium for good winterizing of crowns.

• Lime again if needed, usually calcitic lime, but please use a soil test to confirm

A product worth looking in to for all kinds of soil issues:

Black Earth Humalite is an organic, coarse-grade humic granule, containing 64% humic acid. The large, coarse granule size allows for easy handling which enables top conditioning performance in a wide range of conditions and soil types, independent of application method. The large granule size allows for the slow release of nutrients into the soil and is the most cost- effective for high-rate applications. Leonardite is another humic granule.  Either will work – depends on what you can get.  Both are derivatives of soft brown coals – no heating capacity but very stable soil carbon additions.

And that’s enough on lawns!!

Now let’s look at cover crops (another September project!)…

Cover Crop Basics

Cover cropping is a way of protecting open soil once the gardens are down.  Like using a mulch, a cover crop’s purpose is to help manage soil erosion/compaction, add to soil fertility and structure, stabilize water, suppress weeds, challenge pests, and diseases, increase biodiversity and support wildlife.  Cover crops are considered a temporary addition to a growing system that are generally designed from the beginning to NOT be harvested. They can be sown under late season plants still being harvested (like peppers and tomatoes) to give the seeds a bit more time to grab and grow before cold slows them up.

There are two types of cover crops

Crops you need to kill in the spring (using solarizing, herbicides, or tillage)

Takes 3-5 weeks between incorporating the old crop residue and planting the new crop. When soil microbes are in decomposition mode the soil is not “organized” for germination and root expansion. The classic here is winter rye. Winter rye has been used for decades, holds on to any excess nutrition left from the previous year, chokes out weeds and takes the full 5 weeks to break down after being killed off in the spring.

Crops that die over winter and you plant into the residue as a spring mulch (winter killed) or that you can use to fill in-season garden gaps with. These are planted with the goal of creating a mulch (but not a living plant) that persists through the winter, cushioning the effects of weather and providing food for the microbes in the old root systems but NOT requiring the tillage in the spring.

Cover crops are not just for veggie gardens

Flower gardens, any size vegetable garden, raised beds, roadside edges can all improve with a cover crop.  All these soils can (AND DO!!!!) suffer from compaction, poor structure, too many weeds, and erosion if not covered. 

Here are the basics of what cover crops to pick to do a job for you

• Compaction – everyone has it! – solid plow pan – use grasses/grains (oats, rye) and radish

• Organic Matter to boost microbe populations, to add nutrients, to generally improve soil structure and for water retention – legumes, grasses/grains – this is the place for the widest mix of seeds – up to six different species makes a real difference.  Much over six and the gains diminish

• Control Weeds – grasses/grains

• Grow Mulch –  annual rye/oats/barley

• Pollinators – buckwheat and clovers

• Nematode or Root Disease Control – mustards and brassicas, mustards are bio-fumigants

Winter Rye (Cereal Rye) the Good, the Bad, the “think it through”…

Best known and hardiest. Inexpensive and easy to establish.  It can be seeded later in fall.  It has a soil holding root system and scavenges nutrients extremely well. Widely adapted & grows best in cool temperature zones. It’s also the hardest to deal with in the spring if not using tilling or an herbicide.  And tilling, if delayed, can be problematic.  MUST be left for 3-4 weeks to break down if tilled – even if solarized.  Rye roots are allelopathic -big word for the reality that some roots can stop other roots from developing.  Takes time for the chemical created by the rye to be broken down by microbes and for the bed to convert from “break down” mode to “grow” mode.

How do cover crops work in to raised bed management?

This is an often-asked question!  Cover crops are all the rage and really are valuable for keeping active roots working in the soil. Sounds great so must be good for raised beds…right?? For my money, they don’t work all that well unless you have A LOT of raised bed square footage (200 sq ft or more). If you do decide you want to try cover crops, try the winter killed varieties like oats, peas, radish.  Killing off winter rye that gets ahead of you in a raised bed is a horrible way to start a growing season!

We’ll cover solid ways to rehab raised beds in the October newsletter,  but in brief  – Keep the ground covered – always! Leaves and straw are probably best biologically…the only product not worth much is bark mulch but that’s the one that most people think of as “real”.  If that’s the lemon you find yourself stuck with then use other information (like alfalfa slurry and layer mash) to make lemonade!

As I said – more details in October.  The best fun in the world is taking a non-performing soil and converting it in to a functioning system -and autumn is the time to get started!!

See you at the store!