September Springmoor Blog from the Landscape Department

Thom Morgan

Storing Seeds for Future Use

September is unkind to vegetables. By now, your 90-day tomatoes are a withered mess, and the 120-day tomatoes have a few green tomatoes that are struggling to turn red. Eggplants are producing fruit which is one tenth the size of fruit a month ago. Face it, it’s fall, and if you haven’t switched over to fall crops by now, your garden is a pitiful mess.

One thing you can do before you pull up all the stakes and dead vines is collect the seeds.

Springmoor's Floral Focal Points: Rain--too much of a good thing?

By Thom Morgan, Springmoor landscape manager

In last month’s blog, I mentioned that Springmoor experienced a lot of rain in June and July. August continued to be wet, and we got a break from the summer heat. I also mentioned that lawns, landscape plants and vegetables only need 1.5 inches of rain a week in summer, and just one inch of rain a week during the cooler months.

When you get too much rain, the ground becomes saturated and plants that can’t tolerate too much water die. If you have a spot that stays constantly wet, there are trees and shrubs that can tolerate high moisture, and low oxygen in the soil.