The Victory Garden Thread - September, 2026

September 1, 2026 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The MONTHLY Victory Garden Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.

If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located.

This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.

It is impossible to hijack the Victory Garden Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table Recipes, Preserving, Good Living - there is no telling where it will go - and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to/removed from our New & Improved Ping List.

NOTE: This is a once a MONTH Ping List, but we DO post to the thread all throughout the month. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest to Gardeners are welcomed any time.

[Paul R.]

Yikes! I got up a little after 5 a.m.; the temperature is wonderful (66 deg., presently), rain chances are supposed to be minimal, and... I thought to check radar anyway, and here comes a batch of rain & moderate (at this point) t-storms across SEMO! So I was busy scrambling, getting various tools picked up, stuff that goes back in the wellhouse back in it. Sort of a PITA, but the stuff needed to be put up, and hopefully some decent rain will get here - we really need it.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Paul. 63F here and unmitigated clouds, but no rain. Dreary!

Today is the Autumnal Equinox. Some Equinox Info from Earth Sky: "The 2026 September equinox will fall at 00:05 UTC on September 23, 2026. That’s 7:05 p.m. CDT on September 22. It’s the Northern Hemisphere’s autumn equinox and Southern Hemisphere’s spring equinox. You sometimes hear it said that, at the equinoxes, everyone receives equal daylight and darkness. But there’s really more daylight than darkness at the equinox, eight more minutes or so at mid-temperate latitudes. Two factors explain why we have more than 12 hours of daylight on this day of supposedly equal day and night. They are:

The sun is a disk, not a point.

Atmospheric refraction.

More at: Astronomy Essentials Equinox

EarthSky’s Raúl Cortés captured the September equinox sun from Mexico on September 22, 2021, and wrote: “This photo shows the sun coming out exactly at due west as seen from Cerro del Obispado in Monterrey, Mexico.”

[Qiviut]

Thanks for the Autumnal Equinox ping.

It is cloudy, fog on the mountain tops, raining off/on, getting cooler by the hour (currently 60°) but it’s a damp cool, not a crisp/brisk Fall cool. Friday is supposed the our first ‘good’ day this week.

I went grocery shopping this morning & now I’m in the kitchen all afternoon cooking for tomorrow’s lunch. With all the gloomy weather outside, how to make things more cheerful? Maybe if the house had a more holiday, festive feel & smelled better - can’t open the windows for fresh air. The thought occurred to put on some stovetop Potpourri- I had the ingredients for this one:

Cranberry-orange Potpourri:
The classic pairing of cranberries and oranges evokes past memories of the holidays, and will definitely make your home smell a little more festive no matter the time of year.

Ingredients:
1 cup of cranberries
1 orange, sliced
3 cinnamon sticks
2 sprigs of rosemary
2 teaspoons of whole cloves

I’ve got it in a 4-cup little crockpot (heated the water first to speed things along) & I’m just starting to smell it.

The recipe came from this link (has 2 other recipes as well):

https://www.allrecipes.com/article/stovetop-potpourri/

I like this recipe too, but didn’t have all the ingredients:

https://thesweetestoccasion.com/2016/11/homemade-stovetop-potpourri/o

[MomwithHope]

Thanks for the news Paul. I just finished watching this. Apologies tom Liz, this runs more in the prepper vein but looks like a great recipe. Old recipe for dried shelf stable nutritious soup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuplmFWUa7g

Still have some tomatoes out there, mostly the Belarussian Heart and Sabre. Bushes still green and alive. Since the heart tomatoes are so thick walled and beefy I plan on stuffing and baking one with fresh mozzarella and fresh basil. I still have a few younger plants that have not flowered. Lots of ripe Camparis, going to squeeze out the juice and seeds and freeze for throwing in a soup. Have picked 4 pawpaws but the rest rock hard and all the leaves on all the trees still green.

[Paul R.]

Nice!

It’s almost TOO cool here! 69 deg. F at 3 pm!

Wifey is gonna want to run the heat in the morning. ($$$)

[Qiviut]

We’re down to 57° with a stiff, damp breeze. Tomorrow’s temps are 56/49. We’ve had over an inch of rain in the last 72 hours with plenty more showing on radar for overnight.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Qiviut; You could add some hot water and honey and strain it and have a warming drink! Add wine or port and you would almost have Glögg!

AllRecipes Swedish Glögg

At Christmas time growing up my relatives would drink this and Aquavit and have Cheese and pickled herring. (I never cared for pickled fish in any form!)

Equinox in 3 min!

[Liz]

Blueberry Compote
A good recipe to have on hand when blueberries are plentiful.

Ing: 5 c blueberries 2 tbl sugar 2 tbl water 1 tsp ea lemon/zest

Method: BTB on med-high, stir constantly. Boil a min then simmer, soften, reduce 25-30 min,
stir often. Add water 1 tbl at a time as needed to prevent burning. Cool, serve, or store.

Recipe Notes: Lime juice/zest is a nice swap. To freeze–fully cool then freeze in bulk
or in ice cube trays as individual servings. Good over ice cream or yogurt or w/ baked goods.

[Qiviut]

Pickled herring in wine sauce is one of my favorites! :-)
I’ve never had Aquavit.

[Paul R.]

It’s Fall for sure!

We are not THAT chilly, but a cloudy high of 69 deg. today with some breeze was amazing, compared to last week and the weekend.

I’m really hoping we’ll get back up to around 80 for afternoon highs — the garden would like it better. Maybe I’ll try a few of my old lettuce seed packets and see what happens. At this point, there’s not much to lose.

[Paul R.]

I think we went straight from mid-August to mid-October, in one day. The rest of the week looks to be cool and dry.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Anise flavored vodka I think.

Not a big drinker. I have some Svedka mandarin flavored Vodka that I keep for winter colds, or maybe just to have around Christmas or New Year. I have bottles of light barbados Rum and one of Kentucky Bourbon that I keep for baking.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Paul, I have been reading about the problems with your well. And hope that you can get it worked out! (I have always had city water where I lived.)

I am starting to clean up the garden. I have enough "Heavy Hitter" Okra to give away and slip in to soups and 8 or 9 Butternut squash. The Red Kuri squash was a complete bust. I should probably start it very early next year if I want some. I have some Belstar broccoli that has a good start. I do need to fertilize those tomorrow!

Trimming off any tomato flowers or non productive suckers from the Tomatoes and leaving only green growing tomatoes. I should probably have the bags with sweet potatoes emptied and see what I have managed to grow.

Here is something I tried this year with my butternut squash....I did side dress with some minerals and Tomato Tone fertilizer, but I watered it in and followed up with a quart of yeast fermented with sugar for about an hour. What was a failing vine picked up and kicked out new fresh vines and produced more Female squash and flowers than the preceeding 3 months! I have about 5 new substantial sized new pollinated squash growing which I can get at least another few weeks of growth before we get a freeze!

Well, Enough for tonight!

Hope you also get that cooler weather after all that heat. I may get some beans, but not much. A lot of problems with bean beetles and cucumber beetles.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Mom; The video, Thanks! I watched it. I would agree with him that it is probably better with lentils than peas!

There were a few other good videos, one on 6 types of canned meats to buy, and one on the things that the Amish buy at Walmart. :)

I have some of them, will look for them next time I go there or Sams Club!

[MomwithHope]

Liz this is almost exactly how I have been doing blueberries for decades. I have a 5lb box of frozen from a farm that I got in August. Will probably process them in the next week or so. They have the best blueberries around, family farm since the 50’s. Huge. I use a large non stick skillet with a heavy glass cover, Just about 1/2 cup water, add the berries frozen, cover and let simmer on very low heat. After they are all thawed and bubbling you can kick up the heat to low or a little higher. Yes stir frequently and it will become thicker on its own. Don’t cover again. When it is the right thickness I add only enough sugar, by the tablespoon, stir and taste, and add more until its just the way I like it, really not sweet. If you cook it too thick it will just thicken up more as it cools, so turn off the heat while it is more loose. I add a spalsh of lemon juice, stir and ready to go into jars. I use half pints like your picture. Awesome on pancakes, crepes, on ice cream. Or you could spoon into tart shells.

[MomwithHope]

I’ll have to check out the Amish video. Thanks.

[Liz]

Blueberry pancakes..........sheer heaven.

[Liz]

Blueberry pancakes..........sheer heaven.

[MomwithHope]

On pancakes I just use as a topping. Plus I make my own batter, one egg, a lump of ricotta, salt, some kefir and flour.

[MomwithHope]

I think this is the Amish video you talked about. Very good, some things I have been doing for years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Diay5cTI7sY