When to pick apples so they keep?

Tradition advises the ascending moon, on fruit days. The surest signal remains the fruit itself: it should come away with a quarter-turn, without forcing. Then store in a cool, airy place, without the fruits touching.

Which green manure to sow in September?

Phacelia and mustard are the simplest: quick to germinate, dense to cover, easy to cut down. Avoid mustard before a future bed of brassicas (same family). Tradition places this sowing in the ascending moon, like all sowings.

In the garden · September

Gardening by the moon in September September

September is the pivot month: the fruit arrives by the basketful while the summer beds free up. Lunar tradition gives the ascending moon to sowings of spinach, corn salad and winter lettuces, and to picking keeping apples and pears; the descending moon to planting strawberries and lifting potatoes. The soil that empties should never be left bare.

The essentials

To sow: spinach, corn salad, winter lettuces, radishes, green manures
To prune, to plant: strawberries, autumn raspberries after fruiting, perennials to divide
To harvest: apples, pears, grapes, end-of-season tomatoes, potatoes
Watchword of the month: sow for winter, gather in summer

What to do in the September kitchen garden by the moon?

The lunar calendar rests on a swing: in the ascending moon, the sap is said to be carried upwards, and you sow, graft and pick the fruit; in the descending moon, it’s said to flow back toward the roots, and you plant, divide, prune and lift.

In September the ascending moon is studious: spinach, corn salad, winter lettuces and radishes get sown while apples, pears and grapes get picked. The descending moon takes over to plant the strawberries, divide the tired perennials and lift the potatoes, on root days if you want to honor the tradition of keeping.

Which crops to favor, and on which days?

Each day of the calendar carries a dominant note, leaves, flowers, fruit or roots, according to the constellation the Moon is crossing. In September the leaf days are the busiest: it’s the great window for spinach, corn salad and the lettuces that will spend winter outdoors.

Fruit days belong to the orchard: tradition places the picking of cellar-bound apples and pears here, in the ascending moon for fruit that keeps. Root days serve the lifting of potatoes and the sowing of radishes; flower days, the planting of biennials and the first spring bulbs for the most eager.

The gesture of the month: cover every bed freed up

With every finished harvest, the same question: what to do with the space? September’s answer fits in a packet of green manure. Phacelia or mustard broadcast germinate in a few days, cover the soil before winter, smother the volunteer weeds and will feed the soil when you cut them down in spring.

In town, the same reflex translates differently: a window box emptied of its tomatoes takes a sowing of corn salad or spinach. It’s the simplest balcony crop of autumn, and it harvests all winter, leaf by leaf.

What agronomy says

Trials run to compare sowing “on the right day” with control sowings turned up no reproducible difference: weather, soil and care count for far more. If the lunar calendar helps you, it’s as a cadence: it cuts the month into appointments, and it’s the regularity that makes the garden.

The lunations of September (exact dates)

Calculated from the ephemeris, in London time, and rechecked every night. Each lunation has its own detailed page.

Frequently asked questions

When to pick apples so they keep?: Tradition advises the ascending moon, on fruit days. The surest signal remains the fruit itself: it should come away with a quarter-turn, without forcing. Then store in a cool, airy place, without the fruits touching.
Which green manure to sow in September?: Phacelia and mustard are the simplest: quick to germinate, dense to cover, easy to cut down. Avoid mustard before a future bed of brassicas (same family). Tradition places this sowing in the ascending moon, like all sowings.