Is Your Garden Done - or Are YOU Just Done?

What to Do in the Late-Summer Garden

By late August, I reach a point every year when part of me wants to look at the garden and say:

That’s it. I’m done. Rip it all out. 😂

The garden isn’t as fresh and perfect as it looked in June. Some plants are tired. Some are overgrown. There are weeds I swear weren’t there yesterday. And everywhere I look, something seems to need harvesting, pruning, pulling, preserving—or dealing with.

Meanwhile, back-to-school season arrives, Labor Day is approaching, schedules start changing, and suddenly summer feels like it’s ending.

But here in a northern garden, the garden may not actually be done just because the gardener is getting tired.

So before you start ripping everything out, here are four things I’m reminding myself to do:

1. Harvest What You Can

This is prime harvest season in the vegetable garden, and I'm trying to gather as much as I realistically can use or preserve.

But I've also learned that a successful harvest doesn't have to mean baskets overflowing with produce.

One tomato that goes into tonight's dinner counts.

A handful of herbs counts.

A few flowers brought inside count.

And if your garden didn't produce what you hoped it would this year, that doesn't automatically mean you failed. Every growing season teaches us something we can use next time.

Peaches from our orchard - several years ago!

2. Capture the Garden You Have Right Now

This is something I'm making a point of doing more often.

Take the picture. Take the video.

Don't wait until the garden is weeded, the hose is put away or everything looks Instagram-worthy.

I've been trying to capture the little things happening around my garden and homestead because they're part of the harvest, too.

The flowers.

The butterflies and pollinators.

The chickens and ducks wandering around.

A mother hen raising her chicks.

The morning light hitting the garden a certain way.

Something funny or unexpected you notice while walking outside.

In another month or two, much of what we're looking at right now will be gone for the season.

Sometimes the thing you harvest from your garden is a memory.

3. Plant Something

This is also the time of year when northern gardeners can make the mistake of assuming planting season is over.

It isn't necessarily.

I'm thinking about sowing another round of carrots and some greens. Some will be for us, and some greens and possibly peas will be grown for my chickens and ducks. (I’m not yet committed to the idea - ask me after a good night’s sleep!)

Cooler late-summer and early-fall weather can give us another opportunity to grow certain quick-maturing and cold-tolerant crops.

So before you clear an empty space, ask yourself:

Could I grow one more thing here?

This doesn't have to become another giant gardening project. Sow one short row. Fill one container. Tuck a few seeds into an open spot.

Keep it simple. Or develop a process that works for you.

4. Give Yourself Permission to Pause

This may be the most important one.

You don't have to squeeze every possible tomato, bean, flower or carrot out of your garden to make the season worthwhile.

Sometimes you're simply tired.

I'm juggling harvesting and preserving, trying to capture photos and videos while everything is still growing, taking care of the rest of the homestead, and raising three chicks with their mother hen. We're also heading up north for Labor Day weekend.

Life doesn't stop because the garden is producing.

That's one reason I believe so strongly that our gardens need to work with our lives rather than take them over.

If something is finished, pull it.

If something is still producing and you want it, leave it.

If you have the energy to plant another crop, plant it.

And if you need to sit down and simply enjoy what you've grown?

Do that.

Your Late-Summer Garden Doesn't Have to Be Perfect

Late summer isn't quite the end of the gardening season, and it doesn't have to become a frantic race to squeeze every bit of productivity out of it either.

Maybe this week's garden plan can simply be:

Harvest.
Capture.
Plant.
Pause.

Take what the garden is giving you.

Save some memories of it.

Plant something if you want to keep growing.

And enjoy the season you're actually in instead of worrying about everything you think you should be doing.

Because gardening isn't only about how much we produce.

Sometimes the best harvest is simply noticing what was there.

What are YOU doing in your garden right now?

Are you still harvesting? Planting for fall? Preserving food? Taking pictures? Or are you completely ready to pull everything out and call it a year?

I'd love to hear where you are in your gardening season.

And if you're looking at your garden thinking, “I don't know what I should keep, pull, plant or do differently next year,” this is exactly the kind of thing we can work through together during a garden consultation.

Learn more here: Garden Consultation

If you’re interested in extending your garden into late fall/early winter, check out this podcast episode!