Sprout Farm Newsletter September 12th 2026    sproutfarm.net    open 9-5 daily

Hello Everyone,

The Labor Day is past and the temperatures have dropped. The air conditioner can take a break until next year but now is the time to stack the firewood. The garden chores are easier now that the cool breeze actually works to keep you cool despite the brilliant sunshine. There's something about September skies in New England that makes our shoulder season special. The wild life is more active. Jay looked out the window and saw a coyote crossing and re-crossing the street and I did a quick mental checklist of cats and kittens. All accounted for. Mr. Scruffy is on his own but he's a survivor.

The garden is winding down. There is no more summer squash or zucchini in our garden or at the Big Apple in Wrentham. We do have beans but they go quickly. Sorry, there was no second planting of wax beans. We have tomatoes and this is the time of year that I'm glad they're growing in open sided greenhouses. The bees are plentiful and going in and out without hesitation. The bumble bees are everywhere. I don't see honey bees anywhere but the bumble bees do all the work with tomatoes so that's OK. The peppers and eggplant are doing well and Jay brings in some from The Big Apple to give our plants enough time for the veggies to ripen.

We have have 6 varieties of apples at the moment including Macintosh and Homey crisp. We are waiting for the apples from Sauchuk Farm and they should be available sometime  this week. Before you know it we'll be bringing home bins of pumpkins. The supermarket displays of Halloween candy are getting seriously extensive. Candy companies must have serious advertising budgets when it come to candy in October.

Jay started bringing out the mums out of the greenhouses so the last flower season is off and running. Most of them are not in color, yet, but the buds cover the plants perfectly. The earlier you get them settled into the soil, the longer they'll last and you'll enjoy every bloom as it opens. They do needs regular water to perform at their best and garden soil holds that better than a plastic pot.

The mums are hybrids so we do not expect them to come back next year but you never know. If you want to make sure your effort this fall plays out next spring, dig a larger hole for the mum and plant some spring bulbs around the edges. It's the best time of the year to do this and next spring you'll be happy you did.  Dig once, plant twice as much.

The kitten report: The kittens are nine weeks old tomorrow. One of them has gone to his new home and the rest of them have gone vertical. They have discovered the dining room table and the table cloth that used to cover it. The kittens are just heavy enough that when they grab the cloth to climb up to the table top, they pull the whole cloth down and any and all things on the cloth scatter all over the place. There will be no table cloth until they leave home, except for Goldie/Chunk, he is shaping up to be a heart breaker. I can see the coming battle of wills; Jay vs kitten. My money is on Jay, after all, he is the one who dispenses the food and underneath the cool exterior, cats are all about food. The kittens have increased in speed to the point that when they runs it sounds like they are three times their size. They have the run of the house but they haven't figured out how to go down the stairs into the basement. They haven't been outside onto the grass either but they're easier to keep track of in the house. A couple of years ago when we had two cats with litters at the same time, we had the whole clowder in the room above our bedroom. That's when we realized just how active kittens are in the middle of the night. We would hear these paws thundering across the ceiling at all hours of the night.

It's much quieter with everyone on the same floor.

That's all the news for now. Stop by and see what we have growing for you,

Jay and Phyllis Sprout