Changing Seasons in the Family Garden

Posted in Around the Garden on September 19 2012, by Matt Newman

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.

So don’t give up on your garden’s unruly tangle of late-season growth just yet. With a little revision, it might surprise you with how much the soil has left to give. Learning how to dig up that potential is as simple as a weekend stop at the Family Garden.

While tickets for the Garden-to-Table Dinner during The Edible Garden Festival are currently sold out, registration is still open for attendance to the Festival itself, as well as Mario Batali’s cooking demonstration. Visit our ticket page for more information.