It's not too late for a beautiful, tasty fall garden

CATHY WURZER: Whether you love it or hate it, meteorological fall is happening. That means it's far too late to get started with a garden, right? Well, Meg Cowden thinks it's never too late to start your own garden. She's got tips for gardening all year long. For more on what she's been sowing and planting and harvesting, Meg is back. She's the author of the book Plant Grow Harvest Repeat. How are you, Meg?

MEG COWDEN: Hi, Cathy. I am tired but great.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, long holiday weekend?

MEG COWDEN: Oh, I'm just more talking about the gardening season. At this point in my life, it is like--

CATHY WURZER: We're done. [LAUGHS]

MEG COWDEN: I am looking towards October with my knitting needles and maybe some quieter days, yeah. I am just in the throes of a very, very busy time of the garden right now, still, which is great.

CATHY WURZER: I have a friend who planted pole beans for the first time. And she said she finally just lost her mind. They were slow growing to begin with. And she just ripped them all out this weekend because they were just too much. And she just said, I'm done, I'm done. So what does your garden look like?

MEG COWDEN: Yeah, I totally embraced what she did. If it doesn't work for you, pull it out. She could plant some radishes or cilantro in that space. I am-- a lot of stuff is still standing. I've been succession planting all season long. I was just out there sowing more seeds this morning after I got the kids out to school. We have got tons of tomatoes still. My third succession of sweet corn is going to be coming into season soon.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, wow.

MEG COWDEN: Our dry corn, so our cornmeal corn and flour corn, is still maturing on the plants. You let those dry as long as possible. I have tons of dry beans out there, and they are slowly starting to mature. Lots of carrots, the potatoes are all still out there. Cucumbers are still producing. I mean, how much time do we have? There's lots going on.

CATHY WURZER: You've got a lot.

MEG COWDEN: We're also-- like, watermelon and cantaloupe are the other kind of big highlight right now, as well as ripe bell peppers. Not green, I'm talking red and orange.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, really?

MEG COWDEN: Delicious.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, pretty. Oh, my goodness.

MEG COWDEN: Yeah.

CATHY WURZER: Because now we're in early September, is it too late to maybe sow lettuces?

MEG COWDEN: No. Well, I don't think so. I grow a lot of head lettuce. I did sow several rows of lettuce today. And it's a variety that's known to be harvested kind of as a baby green. And it's supposed to be 30 days to maturity. And I'm looking at 30 days, Cathy, and that's only early October. And chances are, we won't have a frost yet. And lettuce is frost-tolerant.

So right now, in September, what we're trying to do is we're trying to grow plants that you're really eating the leafy greens, by and large. So it's herbs and spinach and lettuces, things like that, that not only don't get very big, so they mature quickly, but these also all can handle a frost. And as the days start to shorten more and more, these quick-maturing plants are kind of the only things that we can start right now. But the fact that we can start right now is probably surprising to a lot of your listeners.

CATHY WURZER: Yes. It's surprising to me, to be frank with you. Because I've read that now September is the new May when it comes to, especially, to planting flowers. Really?

MEG COWDEN: Oh! Well, that's news to me too.

CATHY WURZER: OK.

MEG COWDEN: You'll have to tell me more about that.

CATHY WURZER: It was a "New York Times" article, so I'm assuming, if that's the case-- I maybe shouldn't assume anything-- if people are growing flowers in September, I wonder if, then, it makes sense to maybe go for other veggies too.

MEG COWDEN: Yeah. I wonder if that was a Margaret Roach column? I mean, there are several flowers in my garden that are frost-tolerant-- a bit frost-tolerant. So some years I'll have my calendula and my sweet alyssum and my snapdragons still flowering into November in the garden.

CATHY WURZER: Wow. Oh, my goodness. Now that-- I wasn't expecting you to say that.

MEG COWDEN: Yeah, well, I mean, it all depends on how they can handle down to 26, 28. They're not going to look great, but they're also not going to be dead. So the question is how much mess can you tolerate this time of year? If you're OK with a little bit of a mess in the garden, there's going to be some lingering bumblebees if the days are warm. So leaving that stuff out is great for the pollinators.

CATHY WURZER: See, are you a canner? I'm betting you are.

MEG COWDEN: I am. That's why I'm so tired, Cathy. We've been canning, yeah.

CATHY WURZER: I admire you. I just have never tried it. It seems really hard.

MEG COWDEN: I think it's intimidating for a lot of people. And I think there is definitely a food safety concern. I'm not a master preserver, but I follow recipes that have been tested. And we've put up about 36 quarts of our tomato sauce so far. My goal was 70, so I'm not sure I'm going to make it. And then I've canned about 24 pints of salsa verde.

CATHY WURZER: Ah.

MEG COWDEN: And that might be enough for a year for us.

CATHY WURZER: Oh!

MEG COWDEN: That was my goal. That was one of my goals.

CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS]

MEG COWDEN: I know. I haven't successfully grown tomatillos since we lived in Oregon, so that's been, like, 20 years. But I did it.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, that's why you're tired. Oh, my goodness.

MEG COWDEN: Oh, yeah.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, my goodness. Wow.

MEG COWDEN: Yeah. I've got 50 pounds of tomatoes sitting on a shelf that need to be roasted and canned this week, which will make about 11 or 12 more quarts.

CATHY WURZER: I'm hoping you have some help, woman. I really do.

MEG COWDEN: Well, my husband and I make a great team. So he and I do a lot of that together. I mean, I wouldn't have a garden this large if someone else didn't love doing this with me. I mean, it just wouldn't happen.

CATHY WURZER: Of course, you know, your garden-- you're getting a little tired here, I know. But what excites you about fall?

MEG COWDEN: So a couple of things excite me. And I think the biggest thing is knowing that right now-- so from, like, August into September, the garden tells me what I have to do. And come the fall, a lot of what's in the garden doesn't control my life as much anymore because it's all shelf-stable foods. And they're frost-tolerant, so like my carrots and my beets and my cabbages and my broccoli and my Brussels sprouts, those can all just kind of sit in the garden.

And I also love that a lot of the foods in fall look very boring from a glance. A lot of them are root crops, so even though they're colorful, that's not revealed until you harvest them. So there is a subtlety and a softness in autumn that kind of reflects how we as Minnesotans and people who live in colder climates are starting to go inward a little bit. The garden kind of goes inward in a way.

And it's really lovely to have that as a reminder. Like, OK, we don't have to be so-- I feel like-- I'm doing this motion like you can see me. But I very much live with the seasons, so summer is very expansive for me. And I very much start to contract more, personally, in the fall, and really look forward to the more inward and reflective time that fall leads us into, which is winter, as well, so--

CATHY WURZER: Of course, with the shortening of the days too, yeah, I feel the same way. Isn't it kind of fun how gardening is tied to the seasons and really to life lessons?

MEG COWDEN: Yeah, yeah, it's so beautiful. And the beautiful thing about the fall too, is like, wow, things like still want to grow, you know. Like, even though it's colder and the days are getting shorter, things are still trying their best. I mean, there will be seeds that will germinate in the fall because they have the right conditions. They're not going to make it. But they're still giving it their best shot, just like we should be, right?

CATHY WURZER: Right. By the way, are you starting anything for any herbs inside? Are you starting anything for inside, for the winter, for herbs? Or do you already have that going on?

MEG COWDEN: No, I will cut some rosemary back. That's about the extent of my herbs for the winter. I'll cut it back and root it and cut it up. But no, if we want to do anything inside, we have a small hydroponic system that one of my kids built several years ago. So we have the potential to grow, like, cilantro and lettuce hydroponically in the winter. But, I mean, you know, we are human, so it doesn't always happen.

CATHY WURZER: Right. It's good to relax, as well. Meg, thanks for the update. I appreciate it. Happy fall.

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MEG COWDEN: Likewise, Cathy, thanks so much.

CATHY WURZER: Thank you. That's Minnesota gardener Meg Cowden. She's the author of the book Plant Grow Harvest Repeat. It's a fantastic book, by the way. Check it out when you have an opportunity.