This is my favorite time of the year – warm days with cool mornings and evenings. Fall is the best; even though it can be very unpredictable as all seasons are in the south.  September is always one of the driest months of the year – what happened this year? Plenty of rain makes for lush growth and gets the ground ready for planting.

  For those of you who moved here from other zones where gardening stops in the late autumn, I have some good news and I have some bad news. The good news is that this is the beginning of our planting season and it lasts throughout the winter into spring.

  Fall vegetables can be planted from now until December and then you can start again in March.  Perennials, shrubs, trees and lawns can be planted throughout the winter whenever you can get outside and when the soil can be worked. The bad news is that you will get no rest from gardening chores. Leaf raking, lawn mowing, weed pulling, digging and planting and even harvesting go on throughout the winter months. No rest for the weary gardener unless it is freezing, raining or snowing. 

  I really miss the local nurseries that always put their perennials and some shrubs on sale about this time of the year. I love sales! I just went to a plant sale to benefit the Oakland Cemetery and bought six plants for a price that would have paid for my groceries this week. The plants were good and unusual and the money could not have gone to a better cause. I am pleased. Have you visited that cemetery? They have done such a wonderful job of restoring it – a work in progress. It is a botanical garden with wonderful artifacts throughout. It is a true historical garden, museum and tribute to those families and individuals that built a great city for many years. Take a morning or afternoon to make a visit – you will be so glad you did.

  Since I have been sequestered at home, one would think that I would have been better about writing my gardening experiences. I spend about 10-12 hours every day in the landscape, greenhouse, vegetable garden or with the animals. I am too worn out for brain work, but thankful that I still have the stamina to attempt to keep all these acres going. My landscape is about 20 years old and a lot has happened in that time. Shade areas have changed because young trees grow large canopies and old trees die and have to be removed. Shrubs have grown too large. My grass also suffered with these changes, so it is time to renovate the front of my landscape garden. Decisions like that happen when you are staying at home all the time – you start making projects. While this is the perfect time to renovate, it means a lot of work because plants have to be dug and often separated, soil has to be moved in and it must be prepared and renewed for transplants to be successful. Sometimes my excitement for a new project exceeds my energy!

  My rambling column this week is because I have been out of touch, but ready to do some gardening communication. It is a wonderful time of the year to clean out the summer vegetable garden and plant collards, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, turnip greens, mustard, Swiss chard, spinach, a dozen kinds of kale, same with lettuces, carrots, radishes, and even Pak Choi (I think). Did I leave anything out?

  Next time: The Plants that Make My Landscape a Special Place

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