October 2025 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Robert]

On 2 October we received 1.35 inches (34.29 mm) of precipitation at our El Dorado County farm. This is an excellent start to our winter precipitation season, however it comes about 2 weeks earlier than average. In addition, this storm was warm – there was no snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, just rain. During this rainy period temperatures have been below average. The week ahead looks to be warm and dry with average temperatures for this time of year. It appears we will have perfect temperatures for our trip to the Sierra Nevada Mountains this week.

In many ways summer is a dormant period in our part of California. The native bulbs are dormant, as well as many of the native perennial plant species. Our native annual wildflowers will only start germinating now that there has been significant precipitation and temperatures have cooled from the summertime highs. Pictured above is a typical late summer scene in our part of Northern California. Our home garden also reflects this pattern.



Our Sacramento home is a working mini-farm. We grow agricultural crops to feed ourselves. Thus I attempt to use borrowed scenes to create beauty in our garden. Much of this inspiration comes from 50 years of observation of living in farm country and from many of the paintings of the artist Claude Monet depicting scenes from the French countryside. The scene of the dry corn stalks and the fading Zinnia elegans flowers is a familiar one for me. I find it very appealing and enjoy these scenes every autumn. For me, this is an extremely important aspect of gardening.



This is a current scene of our backyard ornamental garden. Most plants are dormant and there are few flowers.



I have almost finished mulching the ornamental garden with shredded leaves. I am a bit late with this task this season.



Zephyranthes mesochloa continues to produce flowers. We get far more flowers from this species than the other Zephyranthes species we grow in our garden.

A few weeks earlier many Colchicums filled our garden beds with flowers. They are all finished now. Soon the few autumn blooming Crocus species we have will start blooming. I will move some to these garden areas to continue the autumn blooming cycle. Other than these autumn blooming species there will not be much action in our garden until early January. Managing the garden is an on going learning experience for me.

[Robert]

Helianthus giganteus ‘Sheila’s Sunrise’ is a very common, tall, late blooming species. It is a bit invasive, however I would not garden without this species. I greatly appreciate this “end-of-the-season” perennial.



Our tall, single flowered, Dahlia coccinea hybrids are at their prime late in the season when the summer heat is over.



We are getting close to having something special with this Tithonia rotundifolia hybrid. This is a very common, annual species that we enjoy growing in our garden. It does no take special, rare plants to be creative with plants or create beauty in the garden.



Here is another example of being creative with plants. Pictured is a thick stand of alfalfa grow hours after I finished harvesting a crop of buckwheat from the same bed. In the Northeastern part of the U.S.A. buckwheat is used as a smother crop to reduce weeds and smother any plants growing under it. Here I used buckwheat as a nurse crop for the alfalfa. It worked perfectly. The alfalfa was not suppressed as if it was a weed. The main difference was being able to think outside the box of perceived outcomes to come up with a different outcome. High levels of solar radiation in our region helped a lot!

As you can see we also grow Zinnia elegans at of El Dorado County farm. A sweetly scented autumn clematis blooms on the fence in the background with fragrant David Austin shrub roses and Honeysuckle.



A final garden scene as I head back to the house after a day of pleasant work in the garden/mini farm.

[Jeffnz]

I assume that you grow the alfalfa for it benefit on the soil fertility and structure.

[Robert]

Hi Jeff,

Yes, next growing season I will get 5 or 6 alfalfa cuttings for compost making. The roots go deep and bring up many minerals from deep in the soil. Some of the leafy parts can be dried and used as a fertilizer for potting mixes and soil blocks. I spent most of the day today planting out fall/winter vegetables, ornamental annuals, and California native annuals. I enjoy growing ornamental annual species a great deal. Farming has been my passion since I was about 10 years old or maybe less. I remember visiting Mr. Barrett's farm and Mr.Jones was a friend. Mr. Jones had 10 acres of almonds. Uncle Elwin had the cattle ranch across the road. He had a small but very nice Orchard. He gave me a piece of Champagne Peach that I still have to this day.

Tomorrow I will start sowing winter cover crops. My favorites are Hairy Vetch, Crimson Clover, and Fava Beans. Fava Beans fix nitrogen and produce a great deal of carbon biomass. In our climate it is a great one for building the soil. I produce many tons of compost for our garden each season. There is no need for fertilizer or to buy anything for the soil. Right now I do not produce enough dried alfalfa for potting soils so I still need to buy a little bit. Beyond that both the El Dorado County and Sacramento farms produce all their fertility needs.

[Jeffnz]

The prime growing of alfalfa here is as a winter dry feed for animals but it does have use on organic vineyards.