Krissy Grows

My friend vomlancefarm and her husband have put so much work into this pumpkin patch and U-Pick flower field, and it shows. Pumpkins everywhere, rows of flowers to wander through, and plenty of excuses to bring home just one more. 🧡

If you missed it today, you can still load up on pumpkins and pick a bouquet tomorrow, Sunday, September 27, from 10am–4pm. Go see what they’ve been working so hard on!

Social media tips from my non-social media husband. Everyone take notes!

I grew roselle for one very specific reason: I wanted to make jamaica from my own garden. I've been waiting patiently all summer for this harvest!

Roselle loves the heat, so it’s a fun one to grow through our Southern California summer. After it flowers and the petals fall, that red part left behind is the calyx. That’s what I’m harvesting for jamaica.

I pull the calyces off, remove the seed pods inside, give them a good rinse, and steep them in hot water until the water turns that gorgeous deep red. Then I strain it, sweeten it to taste, and pour it over ice. It is a nice, refreshing drink I made from something I grew myself.

If I harvest more than I can use fresh, I dry the cleaned calyces until they’re completely crisp, then store them in an airtight jar in a cool, dark place to use in the future.

Have you grown roselle before, or have you only had jamaica as a drink?

The soil in the chicken run had gotten so hard and compacted that even the chicken ladies were having a hard time scratching around in it.

I wasn’t sure how well this little cultivator/tiller would handle ground that packed down, but it broke through it way better than I expected! It loosened everything up without me having to stand out there trying to break it apart with a shovel or garden fork.

Now the girls have fresh, loose dirt to scratch through, dig little holes in and give themselves all the dust baths their hearts desire. I already know they’re going to have this entire area rearranged in less than five minutes after I let them back in.

This is actually a tool I bought for the garden but quickly realized I’ll be using all over the property. Anything that saves my back and makes the chicken ladies happy is a win around here!

If you want to check out the cultivator I used, you can find it through the link in my bio with all of my other garden and homestead favorites.

Okay, if you’ve been waiting for me to tell you when to plant…GO. This weather is WAY too nice to waste, so this is definitely a "get stuff done in the garden" week.

Here are some things I'm getting done in the garden this week.

✅ Plant those seedlings. If you’ve been holding broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, chard, herbs or other fall seedlings because of the heat, start getting them out. Just make sure they’ve been hardened off first.

✅ Direct sow something. Carrots, radishes, beets, arugula and other cool-season seeds can start filling those empty spots. You don’t need to plant the entire packet either. Save some for another round in a couple weeks.

✅ Make some decisions about the summer garden. Still producing? It can stay. Taking up a giant amount of space to give you one sad cucumber every two weeks? Its lease may be up.

✅ Clean up as you go. Pull finished plants, remove dead or diseased leaves and clear out some of the summer mess. You don’t have to overhaul the whole garden in one day.

✅ Add a little compost. If you’re opening up old summer spaces for fall crops, work some compost into those areas before replanting.

✅ Check your irrigation. We’ve been watering for HOT weather. As things cool down, actually check the soil before automatically keeping the exact same schedule. And make sure emitters aren’t clogged or watering an empty spot where a plant used to be.

✅ Refresh your mulch. Especially around new transplants. It’ll help keep the soil moisture more consistent if September decides to be September again. Just leave a little breathing room around stems.

✅ Keep harvesting! Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, herbs and anything else still producing need to be picked. Keeping mature fruit off the plants can help keep productive warm-season crops going.

✅ Check underneath some leaves. Look over your new seedlings especially. Aphids, cabbage worms, snails, slugs and other little freeloaders would also like to enjoy your fall garden.

✅ Plant ONE more thing. Seriously. If you do nothing else this week, find an empty spot and put something in it.

A

Welp, looks like nothing inside the house is getting done this week.

Apparently I was in a plant pulling mood today.

This time of year I start looking around the garden and realizing I’m keeping some of these summer plants around for absolutely no reason other than... they were good to me.

If my tomatoes and peppers are still looking good and producing, they can stay. We still have plenty of warm weather left here.

But the crispy cucumber that gave me one cucumber three weeks ago? The zucchini that looks terrible and hasn’t made a zucchini in who knows how long?

Why am I emotionally attached to keeping these things alive? 🥺 Especially when I have fall plants patiently waiting to go in.

So today I made some decisions. A few plants got evicted, but I have some empty spaces again. Now I can clean things up, add a little compost and start sneaking more of the fall garden in.

I swear, sometimes pulling plants is just as satisfying as planting them.

Anyone else have a summer plant they're keeping alive for absolutely no good reason?

I’ve been wanting to make my own compost forever but with my squirrel and coyote issues this year, an open pile was out of the question.

I'm trying to get better about actually using what comes OUT of my garden instead of hauling it all away and this Vivosun composter has made that so much easier.

All the old plants, trimmings, leaves and cardboard boxes have been making their way right back into my garden as compost. This is easier to mix too! I just give it a spin instead of trying to turn a big compost pile with a pitchfork every couple of weeks.

It also doesn’t take up a ton of room, which I really like. If you’ve wanted to start composting but a giant pile in the backyard sounds like more work than you're wanting to add to garden chores, something like this is a really easy way to start.

Plus I get to live out my Price Is Right dreams every time I walk past it, so there’s that. Come on $1.00!!!

If you’ve been thinking about adding a composter to your garden, grab it here

https://link.amazon/B08cH2EqF

I swear tomatoes get all the attention, but they are definitely not the end of gardening season around here.

Fall and winter are actually some of my favorite times to grow in Southern California. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, peas, radishes, lettuce, greens, herbs…there is SO much we can still grow!

And honestly, it is a whole lot nicer when you’re not trying to keep everything alive through heat wave after heat wave.

If your summer garden is starting to look a little tired, don’t take that as your sign to quit. Start clearing things out as they finish, fill those empty spaces back up with fall and winter season plants and keep going.

We get a growing season that gardeners in a lot of other places would LOVE to have. We might as well use it.

And if you’re in Southern California and the hardest part is figuring out what you can plant and when, come join us in The Homegrown Harvest!

I share local planting guides, what I’m planting each week, seasonal garden reminders and you can bring your garden questions to a whole community of gardeners growing right here in our area.

Come grow through fall with us.

http://bit.ly/thehomegrownharvest

I'm not saying this is the answer to all your problems, but I've never been sad picking tomatoes in the rain 😉