Reap what you grow: September in the kitchen garden

In the Celtic calendar, August heralds the start of the harvest season but September is the month when the larder truly begins to fill.

The biggest job right now is keeping up with the bounty and extra time will be needed in the kitchen processing all those gluts.

But harvesting is such a gratifying task and nothing quite beats that resilient feeling of store cupboards and freezers filling up with home grown goodies for the leaner months ahead. But before beds are cleared, it is important to take stock of your plot.

Make notes of what grew where and what varieties performed best as this information is the fodder that will feed next year’s cropping plan.

Sowing

Sowing season is well and truly drawing to a natural close but there is still time to get some last sowings of spring greens into the ground.

Don’t delay, sow leafy crops such as winter salads, spinach, lambs lettuce, oriental greens and coriander directly outside now.

To ensure their success in days of fading light and lower temperatures, have a cloche or fleece to hand. These will help protect crops over winter and in the absence of a polytunnel, they are the best way to extend the season.

Hardy annual flowers such as calendula, cornflowers and nigella can also be direct sown outside now for early blooms next year.

Unearthing spuds

Going back to school and picking potatoes are two childhood events that remain intrinsically linked in my memory. Without question, September is an ideal month for lifting and storing spuds.

Using a garden fork, in combination with your hands, carefully unearth the tubers, being mindful not to damage them in the process. Always harvest in dry weather when possible.

Don’t delay, sow leafy crops such as winter salads, spinach, lambs lettuce, oriental greens and coriander directly outside now

More than likely haulms will already have been cut off or died back which encourages tuber skins to mature and cure in the ground before storage. Brush off excess soil and store in a cool, frost and rodent free shed.

Properly stored potatoes will last right up to the following year. If stocks are healthy, select some tubers to use as next season’s seed, especially if it is a spud you love and are fearful it won’t be available the following year.

Stop crops

Vigorous plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers and squashes have a tendency to keep putting on leaf and producing fruit but there comes a time when their vigour needs to be constrained in favour of ripening fruits.

If you haven’t done so already, stop plants by cutting the main stem/pinching out the growing tip above a leaf node to avoid plants wasting energy on the production of late fruit that won’t have time to mature.

This is also a good time to thin out leaves to ensure fruits receive maximum light to assist ripening.

Green manures

Everyone is familiar with farmyard manure but green manures, albeit somewhat less known, are every kitchen gardener’s ally heading into winter.

Sometimes referred to as cover crops or catch crops, green manures are plants/crops that are exclusively grown to feed, build, and protect the soil while also attracting beneficial insects and soil micro-organisms.

They are the ideal crop for sowing once beds are cleared as leaving soil bare over winter is a big no-no. Green manures could be referred to as a vegetarian alternative to bulky farmyard manure, making them ideal for stock-free and urban gardeners.

Seed options are varied but annual ryegrass, clovers, field beans, phacelia, mustards and tares are ideal for sowing at this time of year and more often than not a mix of many yields the best soil benefits.

Sow seeds as soon as possible to ensure good crop establishment heading into the colder months. The end of this month is the cut-off point for getting most green manures into the ground.

Put in seed thickly to produce a dense mat of green growth that will be cut down and incorporated into the soil before the plant flowers next spring.

Orchards all over the country are heaving with apples at this time of the year, making it the perfect time for sampling the wide selection of cultivars that grow well here.

There is an apple for every site and taste bud and it pays to do the research before purchasing and planting.

If you are starting an orchard or considering a few new additions to an existing one, the annual ‘Taste of the Orchards’ event held by the Irish Seed Savers Association in Scariff on the last weekend of this month is not to be missed.

Home to the largest collection of certified organic heritage apple trees in the country, you will find full details on irishseedsavers.ie.