On Saturday, September 22, the autumnal equinox comes along to peg the exact moment when the northern hemisphere tilts its way into the colder months, leaving many northeastern green thumbs with a bittersweet goodbye on their hands; it’s ciao to cucumbers and adios to eggplants until 2013. But just because summer’s warmth is tipping its hat, that doesn’t mean you need to stow your trowels and pack up your gardening gloves! As explained by Toby Adams, manager of the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, fall can be just as bountiful with a little savvy under your belt.

For the cooler seasons, we’re giving a farewell salute to tomatoes, summer squash, and fresh beans, but welcoming an entirely new class of crops to our one-acre vegetable garden; all sorts of hardy vegetables will be taking root, including mustard greens, broccoli, and prolific plots of radishes to be harvested later in fall. And if the fresh start wasn’t reason enough for fanfare, we’re marking the first day of fall with the long-awaited Edible Garden Festival on Sunday, September 23. It’s as proper a send-off to summer as I can imagine, with all-day gardening activities, cooking demonstrations, and a gourmand’s getaway in Mario Batali‘s garden-to-table dinner event.
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Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education.

Today I would like to tackle a few problems that we commonly encounter in the vegetable garden. How do we maximize space? How do we prevent the feast or famine cycle where we either have nothing to show for our labor, or too much? If you are working with limited space, as most of us are, organizing your vegetable garden in such a way that you maximize productivity and get the right bang for your buck is important. There are several strategies that can help you plan your garden creatively and effectively.

The first thing we need to do is to take a look at how our vegetables grow. Are we planting a vegetable that will, once it reaches the age of maturity, produce consistently throughout the season? Tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers fall into this category. You will just need to add a few of these vegetables into your garden to get a steady supply throughout the summer. Or are we planting crops that either grow quickly or produce one large harvest? I am thinking now of head lettuce, beets, radishes, carrots and turnips.
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What are you growing? What are you loving? What are the bunnies loving?

French Breakfast Radishes in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

When I think of companion planting, color, creativity, combinations and good garden fun come to mind. The premise behind companion planting is that some plants give off substances in their leaves and roots that affect other plants. It is true that plants have unique and complex chemical properties that help them fend off attack from pests and diseases.

It makes sense to extrapolate that they are capable of influencing other plants that are grown in their vicinity. Some people swear by the principle of companion planting and others eschew the concept. This blog is for those who embrace it or for those who simply like beautiful vegetable gardens.
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For the past few weeks we have reflected on the strange weather that we experienced last year, discussing the physical damage to the Garden during the October storm and the identifying characteristics that signal future issues. The erratic behavior of the weather from September onwards reminded me of a time several years ago when an Indian summer lasted well into December. The temperatures crashed in the following January and we experienced winter almost overnight.

Some of you may remember that year. For the broad-leaved evergreens at the Garden, this was the year for winter injury, and there are several reasons why a plant experiences this.
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With the holidays around the corner, this is the time of year when we start giving the gardeners we love the gardening memorabilia they’ll adore. I am always delighted to receive new gardening books, calendars based on gardening themes, and pens adorned with silk flowers.

If you would like to give the gardener in your life–and that may be yourself–a practical gift, then I would recommend exploring gardening journals. Getting into the habit of keeping records during the gardening season is a wonderful way of compiling a history of your endeavors and organizing your seasonal tasks. Your favorite varieties can be recorded for future use and the successes and failures of the season are always instructive.
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A giant pumpkin displayed just before carving. (Photo by Ivo. M. Vermeulen)

For the past two weekends, The New York Botanical Garden has been abuzz with the return of the giant pumpkins. We had four mega pumpkins shipped in from different parts of the U.S. and Canada. Their weight ranged from 1,693 to 1,818.5 lbs. With colors ranging from a cheerful orange hue to pale orange, green, and silver gray, it made for a fascinating variety of size and color.

They were all reclining on multiple bales of hay like Ingres’s Odalisque in a somewhat regal and enticing fashion, surrounded by a harem of smaller heirloom pumpkins and gourds.

Before the exhibition opened, I arrived early one morning to see the pumpkin aficionados carve an opening in the back of the pumpkin and carefully remove all the seeds. De-seeding the pumpkins is an integral part of the process. Not surprisingly, the seeds are jumbo sized, just like their parents. Seeds of these record-sized pumpkins go to an auction where they are generally sold for $300 a seed. Just last year one of the seeds sold for $1,600.
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The New York Botanical Garden is proud to announce the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth’s Showcase of Champion’s winners for 2011!

Beginning Friday, October 21 the three largest pumpkins in the United States will be on display in the Garden’s Visitor Center. Come take a look at Dave and Carol Stelts’ 1,807.5 lb pumpkin grown in Edinburgh, PA. Also, be on the lookout for a plane from California bearing a 1,704 lb pumpkin grown by Leonardo Urena as well as the 1,693 lb pumpkin grown by Brant and Eleanor Bordsen.

Here is a look at the standings for all 1,471 entries at the 54 GPC weigh-off locations nationwide.

Come out and take a look at these giant pumpkins beginning Friday, October 21. Mingle with the giant pumpkin growers, tweet us a picture of yourself with the pumpkins, and don’t miss our first carving weekend featuring Ray Villafane on October 22 and 23.

Check out some of these giant gourds as they make their way to the Garden!

At this time of year we are confronted with a surfeit of zucchini. The deluge begins in July increases momentum in August, and by September we’re all exhausted by this prolific vegetable.

But make no mistake: Zucchinis are great. They make the beginner gardener feel like a veteran grower. They grow as soon as you turn your back on them, maturing sometimes in just days after flowering.

Share your tips for dealing with a zucchini glut below!

The New York Botanical Garden is stunningly beautiful right now. With verdant green vistas, intimate gardens, and primordial forests, there’s no better place to enjoy nature in the city over this three-day weekend than at the Garden. Take a hike in the Forest, stop to smell the roses in the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, experience the sublime beauty of the waterlilies and lotuses in the Conservatory Courtyard pools, search for migrating birds, and get a few tips to take home and put into practice in your own garden. Soothe your storm-frazzled nerves by relaxing along the babbling Bronx River, bask in the sun on one of the Garden’s many benches around the grounds or in the beautiful Perennial Garden, join harvest activities in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, and take a tour of the historic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. The three-day weekend is full of beauty and fun for the whole family.

The Waterlily and Lotus Pools in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Courtyard

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Head below the jump for detailed information on this weekend’s activities at the Garden.