What’s Growing on in the Garden: October 2023

Here we are in November, already deep into the fall season. We gardeners and farmers in northern growing zones are seeing the finish line. It’s now a mad dash to prepare the beds for winter and tuck all our plants in for their long winter nap. Our to-do list isn’t getting shorter necessarily, but it is changing. We again turn our attention to planting rather than growing and harvesting, and soon, we will put our efforts towards planning. Such is the life of a grower in the fall.

So, once again, it’s time to summarize what happened here on the farm last month. I love taking a moment to go back and reflect on all we accomplished (or didn’t accomplish) in the past month. I scroll through the hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of photos that I’ve taken and try to choose which to share with you. For October, my camera was filled with photos of dahlias, anemones, celosia, marigolds, zinnias, and cosmos. While flower production slowed at the end of the season, we still managed to grow and share some beautiful blooms.

With the lack of frost and warmer weather, the dahlias were still at their peak in October. I loved seeing new varieties bloom and took notes to determine if we’ll continue growing them. We unfortunately ran into a bit of disease in a few plants that had to be discarded. But, overall, the dahlias did well this season. Unfortunately, we’ll have to say goodbye with frost in the forecast this week. Then, I’ll begin digging, dividing, and storing them until next season.

Most of our edibles have finished up with the cooler temperatures. But we are still enjoying some winter hardy lettuce and cilantro. I’m enjoying every bite before they are gone for the season. I also planted our garlic to ensure we have lots of homegrown garlic to eat next season.

I loved working with the fall-blooming flowers in October. Our bouquets and arrangements continue to take on a fall vibe with their cool tone color palette mixed with a few pops of warm oranges and yellows. The orangey blooms of Jowey Linda and Robin Hood looked particularly festive this month. I also made my favorite arrangement of the season, featuring two of our dahlia seedlings. Its moody burgundy and pink hues put me in the spirit of the fall season.

Besides harvesting and arranging, October was a time for cleaning and planting. Towards the end of the month, I started to clean up the flower beds, pulling out plants that were no longer producing and spreading compost to replenish the soil. I also tackled planting thousands of fall bulbs for spring crops. We added several hundred more daffodils to the farm, including more of our favorites, Gay Tabor and Sir Winston Churchill, and two new varieties, Yosemite Valley and Pink Charm. We also planted 25 varieties of tulips. We tucked in many of our favorites, such as Super, Apricot, and Silver Parrots, Drumline, and Foxtrot, and some newcomers to the farm. I am most excited about the Black Parrot, Black Hero, and Copper Image varieties. Besides the tried-and-true spring favorites, tulips and daffodils, we planted alliums, Siberian lilies, hyacinths, Spanish bluebells, and Gravetye giant. I can’t wait to see all these spring beauties bloom!

There was also a big push to dry our flowers this month. I harvested side shoots that were too short for bouquets and collected additional flowers to dry as I cleaned up the beds. Farm favorites for drying included celosia, strawflower, gomphrena, ammobium, and statice. Once the growing season is over, I plan to use our dried flowers in crafting projects. One of our popular offerings is our dried flower mini pumpkins that we sell in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. I made fifteen of them as a special order in October as centerpieces for an event highlighting local farmers. This year, I crafted them without using glue to be more eco-conscious. The mini bouquets are instead tied to the pumpkins and can be removed and kept as a keepsake after they’re done with the pumpkin. I enjoy working with dried flowers and look forward to developing other creative ways to use them and share them in the off-season.

All-in-all, October was a lovely and productive month on the farm. The lack of frost allowed us to enjoy the dahlias and other flowers for a few weeks longer, which is always appreciated. And tucking all of our bulbs into the ground excited us for the next season. A few more tasks await us before we officially end the growing season and take a much-needed break. I am looking forward to turning my attention to the planning phase of farming once again. Seeds need to be inventoried, bed plans need to be made, and decisions about the future direction of the farm await. We’re almost there! That’s what’s been growing on in our garden; what’s been growing on in yours?