From fabulous foliage, to fiery & classic, to festive.

Start saying good-bye to your Automowers - in October, once the leaf-fall gets too heavy for our robotic buddies, we'll be rounding them up to put them to bed for the winter. 

This fall, we're infusing your lawn with a nutrient boost. Instead of removing the fallen leaves from your property, we're mulching them back into the grass. We piloted this method on select properties last year, and it was so successful that it's become our new standard - and an ecological win.

At a glance, it looks just like your regular mowing service. But the mowers are now fitted with special blades that mince the leaves, which then settle into your turf roots. As they slowly decompose, this valuable natural resource adds nutrients back to the soil without changing the pH, enhances moisture retention, increases organic matter, and over time lessens soil compaction - much-needed benefits after this scorching, dry summer.

Leaf mulching 'closes the ecological loop' by using an available resource from one organism in the community (your trees) for the benefit of another - your lawn.

Congratulations to our gardener, Sam, who just passed the MCLP. The exam covers everything from plant ID, to entomology, to turf care, to landscape construction practices - so it's a massive amount of material. Only three students across the state passed at this last seating, so it's a giant accomplishment.

We asked our very own 'Farmer Sam' for his advice about what should be done in vegetable gardens at this time of year. Sam is not only a farmer, he's also a chef who's deeply devoted to permaculture. Here's what he recommends:

• Cook or store as much of the end-of-summer harvest as you can for the holidays and winter. It's high time for the last push on tomato sauce, pickled peppers, jams, etc.
• Plant garlic! Perfect timing is on Halloween.
• Test the soil. Send the sample to the UMass extension lab.
• Clean up the beds and plant a cover crop like rye, oats, or buckwheat. 
• Organize tools and sheds, and get planning for the spring.

You can pickle almost anything from your garden - peppers, cukes, cauliflower, carrots, onions; a rye cover crop becomes rich green manure when tilled-in in spring; even garlic from the grocery store can be planted - pick the biggest cloves to grow the biggest bulbs.