September is one of my favorite months of the year but it's one of my least favorite months in the garden. I can forgive the fall and winter gardens of their imperfections but the September garden has the unfortunate task of being constantly compared to the summer garden. Knowing that things were lush and full just a few short weeks ago makes me even irritated with the September garden.
I spent hours and hours this summer, watering and babying the plants so that they would withstand the dry, hot sun each day, only to watch them (naturally) wither away again in August. It always makes me wonder if it was worth all the fuss.
But I can't be sick of my garden yet because I've just started an intensive, 11-week course in Organic Gardening through our county's Extension Service. It's sort of like a traditional Master Gardener program but with an organic, food-production focus. I was worried about taking it during the fall (when all I want to think about are cute boots and cardigans) but the money was already paid and I couldn't justify not going because I wanted to look at fashion magazines all day (though I was pretty tempted, I won't lie).
But of course I ended up going and of course I really love it so far. It's one of the most scientific things I ever felt like knowing about. I'm learning about things like evapotranspiration and I'm not even falling asleep! And I'm learning about the chaos of plants, and about insects, and about how aphids are born pregnant (that just can't be good for anybody).
And I learned that there are lot of people like me who give up on their gardens this time of year and stop watering. But we shouldn't. The plants are still gathering strength for next year and still need it. So of course I watered everything this morning and apologized profusely (to whom, I don't know).
And I also learned that I love being around 'garden folk' and I've realized that I can talk about this stuff for hours—even when just a few days ago, I was ready to put the garden to bed. Luckily, I didn't need much of a push at all.
