September 2025 ended with a much-needed rainstorm. There was a lot of water dumped on the garden within a few hours, wreaking havoc on the commute. If I hadn’t had to be in the office for a meeting yesterday, I would’ve stayed home. Thankfully, other than low visibility, I made it unscathed.

Overall, September wasn’t too bad of a month. Though the garden slowed as the day-length diminished, it still produced quite a bit. There were zucchini squashes, kabocha (Japanese pumpkins), tomatoes, cucumbers, and the biggest sweet potato I’ve ever seen, though probably not enough to be entered into the Guinness World Records.

September was also my birthday month and I spent this birthday chasing fall colors. It led me from one National Forest to another.

What an incredible way to spend the day!

In September, I finally got all the fall and winter vegetables planted and these vegetables are growing surprisingly fast, perhaps, it’s the warm fall that’s giving it a boost. After getting all the vegetables were planted, I decided to, at last, tackle the area along the back fence. I think it’s probably the most neglected area in the garden and the area where the soil is the worst – clay and non-draining.

I decided to remove the thick mulch layer I’ve dumped on it a few years ago when I was a novice gardener and add a layer of new soil on top. Hopefully, it will let enough water to seep through to soften the clay beneath.

I then spent the day after my birthday getting lost at the biggest nursery I’ve ever been to shopping for plants. The main reason I was at the nursery was to buy a new blueberry plant after one of the blueberry plants perished in the summer heat. However, all the nursery had were honeyberry bushes and I’m not looking to raise such a big plant. The honeyberry bushes it was selling would grow to about 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide and it would require 2 plants to get fruit. Oh well, I will have to wait until spring to shop for dwarf blueberry bushes to grow in a container.

In the end, I walked out of the nursery with a cart full of native perennials. I originally had no plans to buy perennial plants because I didn’t want to dig the soil along the back fence because the soil isn’t very dig-able. But the plants look so good, and I couldn’t resist. Painstakingly, I actually got the plants planted in the horrible soil. Hopefully, the new soil I put on top will do some good.

So, what’s in store for October?

To be honest, not much, at least not yet. I have a feeling it will be a long month, especially with the temperature cooling and the garden slowing down, I might read, or crochet to pass the time.