Hello fellow gardeners,

It's that time of the year again––cool mornings, a break from the smoke, orange tints in the tree leaves. Lucky for us, fall is also a time of bounty and ripeness. Tomatoes, squash and corn are coming into their full colour and sweetness, and the soil is still warm enough to germinate those same cold-hardy seeds you first planted way back in the spring.

Here are a few garden updates for September:

HARVEST

This is an obvious but sometimes necessary reminder to pick and eat your food. There is nothing worse than watching a delicious zucchini turn to mush on the vine because it's gone unpicked for weeks. If you can't keep up with the food coming out of your garden box, why not invite a friend to come harvest for you?

GARDEN PHOTOS

We're collecting photographic memorabilia of the garden! If you've got a great picture you'd like to share (of gardeners, garden beds, or garden food), send it our way: garden@communitygardenbuilders.com.

FALL PLANTING

There are many hardy plants that just love the cool fall weather. We have a solid 60+ days of growing left at the garden––why not take advantage with a couple rows of fall crops? Now is the perfect time to plant mustard, lettuce, arugula, spinach and corn salad, to name a few.

One quick note is that your soil is likely pretty depleted by this time in the growing cycle, and it's a good idea to add a bag of compost or manure before seeding for fall crops.

GROWING TIPS: A 3-INGREDIENT TOMATO SOUP RECIPE

It might not be a coincidence that the start of soup season coincides with the end of tomato season. If you're one of those lucky gardeners with too many tomatoes to eat right now, here's an escape hatch from Epicurious. (There's also a handy little video if you follow the link.)

Enjoy the harvest.