Late September has the feeling of a garden taking inventory. Fruit is weighed on bending branches, seed heads replace summer flowers, and every shortening afternoon reveals which plants have flourished, which have struggled and which have quietly supported the life around them.

The stories attached to September 26 ask us to take a similar inventory on a much larger scale. A sealed miniature Earth, the nurseries behind an American folk legend and a celebration of Europe’s languages all point towards the same truth – living systems depend on diversity, connection and knowledge passed carefully from one generation to the next.

September 26, 1991 – The Day Eight People Entered a Glass Earth

On September 26, 1991, eight people stepped through an airlock in the Arizona desert and entered Biosphere 2, an immense glass-and-steel structure designed as a materially closed ecological system. Inside were miniature versions of a rainforest, ocean, wetland, savannah and desert, together with an agricultural area intended to feed the crew. Exactly two years later, on September 26, 1993, they emerged after one of the boldest ecological experiments of the 20th century.

The crew grew crops, tended animals, recycled water and returned organic waste to the soil. Their farming system supplied most of their food, but producing it demanded a considerable share of their working time. Crop failures or disappointing yields could not be disguised by a trip to the supermarket – every calorie depended on the performance of soil, plants, pollinators, microorganisms and people within the enclosure.

The most important lessons came from processes that had been underestimated. Oxygen levels fell sharply as soil microorganisms consumed oxygen while decomposing the exceptionally rich organic matter. Some of the resulting carbon dioxide was absorbed by the structure’s concrete, concealing part of the exchange. Several insect populations declined, while a few adaptable species multiplied rapidly. The experiment demonstrated how difficult it is to predict the behaviour of even a carefully designed ecosystem.

For gardeners, Biosphere 2 offers a powerful change of perspective: the real unit of cultivation is not the individual plant, but the network around it. Soil aeration influences roots, decomposers release nutrients, flowers sustain pollinators, fallen leaves protect and feed the ground, and water management affects every layer. A healthy garden is not sealed, but it still benefits from circular thinking – retaining rainwater, composting suitable plant material, protecting soil and growing enough variety that one failure does not unsettle the entire system.

Garden Science – Can soil run short of oxygen?

Plant roots and soil organisms both respire, which means they use oxygen. In well-structured ground, air is continually renewed through spaces between soil particles. When soil remains waterlogged or becomes heavily compacted, those spaces fill with water or collapse, slowing the movement of oxygen.

Persistent oxygen shortage can damage fine roots and favour organisms that tolerate anaerobic conditions. Improve drainage where necessary, avoid working wet soil, and add organic matter at the surface rather than repeatedly digging it into already dense, saturated ground. Compost improves soil structure, but more is not always better – balance matters even in a garden bed.

September 26, 1774 – Johnny Appleseed Beyond the Folktale

John Chapman, later remembered as Johnny Appleseed, was born in Massachusetts on September 26, 1774. Popular illustrations turned him into a barefoot wanderer scattering seeds wherever he walked, but the real Chapman worked more deliberately. Travelling through parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, he established nurseries, protected the young trees and sold or exchanged seedlings as settlement moved westward.

His apples were grown from seed rather than reproduced by grafting. That distinction matters because an apple seed contains a new genetic combination and will not reliably produce the same fruit as its parent. Many of Chapman’s trees probably bore small, sharp or bitter apples better suited to cider than eating fresh. Yet this unpredictability also generated diversity, allowing thousands of seedlings to meet unfamiliar soils, winters, diseases and local growing conditions. Occasionally, a seedling possessed qualities worth preserving.

Modern orchards depend largely on grafting because it allows growers to reproduce a named cultivar accurately. The upper part of the tree provides the desired fruit, while the rootstock influences size, vigour and sometimes tolerance of soil conditions or disease. A home gardener seeking dependable fruit should therefore choose a grafted, clearly labelled cultivar and check its pollination needs. Growing an apple from a pip can still be a fascinating experiment, but the result should be welcomed as a new individual rather than expected to match the apple that supplied the seed.

Garden Reminder – Late-September care for fruit trees

  • Harvest apples gently by lifting and twisting rather than pulling hard enough to damage the spur.
  • Store only sound, unbruised fruit, and check it regularly so that decay does not spread unnoticed.
  • Collect badly damaged and infested windfalls instead of leaving them beneath the tree, where some pests and diseases can continue their life cycles.
  • In suitable temperate climates, autumn is a good planting season while the soil remains workable. Keep the root flare at soil level, water thoroughly and apply a 5–8 cm layer of mulch without piling it against the trunk.
  • Do not rush into major pruning after harvest. For most established apple trees, structural pruning is better reserved for the dormant season, while vigorous summer growth is managed separately.

Chapman’s legacy is therefore more interesting than the familiar legend. He represents two complementary traditions of fruit growing – the experimental diversity produced by seeds and the continuity maintained through grafting. Gardens need both impulses: curiosity to discover something new and careful propagation to prevent something valuable from disappearing.

September 26, 2001 – When Languages Entered the Garden

The first European Day of Languages was held on September 26, 2001, during the European Year of Languages. Its popularity led to the date becoming an annual celebration of linguistic diversity, language learning and Europe’s multilingual heritage. Although it may seem far removed from horticulture, every garden is filled with words that have travelled between regions, professions and generations.

Common plant names reveal how people have perceived and used species, but they can also create confusion. One name may describe several unrelated plants, while a single species may have dozens of regional names. Scientific names provide an internationally recognised reference, helping gardeners distinguish between plants that may differ in hardiness, growth habit, toxicity or invasive potential. Cultivar names add another essential level of precision because two selections of the same species may perform very differently.

Local names remain valuable for a different reason. They can preserve knowledge about flowering times, wildlife associations, traditional remedies, foods and seasonal changes – information rooted in long observation of a particular landscape. Gardeners can protect both kinds of knowledge by labelling important plants with their botanical and familiar names, recording the cultivar and planting year, and noting where the plant came from. A label then becomes more than identification – it becomes a small archive of horticultural memory.

Garden Practice – What should a useful plant label record?

  • The accepted botanical name
  • The cultivar name, written exactly where known
  • A familiar or regional common name
  • The planting or propagation year
  • The plant’s source or original garden
  • One valuable observation, such as flowering time, drought response or preferred pollinator

Wildlife Note – Should All Stems Be Cut Down in Autumn?

A perfectly cleared border may look orderly, but standing vegetation continues to work after flowering has ended.

  • Seed heads provide food for finches and other seed-eating birds.
  • Hollow or pithy stems can offer shelter to overwintering insects.
  • Dry foliage and stems soften wind at ground level and create protected spaces for small animals.
  • Fallen leaves beneath shrubs shelter invertebrates and gradually return nutrients to the soil.

Remove diseased material and prevent aggressive plants from seeding where necessary, but allow some healthy stems and seed heads to remain until spring. A garden can be managed without being stripped of its winter habitat.

What to Observe Right Now – Signs of the Garden Changing Gear

  • Uneven autumn colour: Leaves on exposed, drought-stressed or damaged branches may change before those in more sheltered parts of the same plant.
  • Late sources of nectar: Ivy, asters, sedums and other autumn flowers can become crowded as alternative food sources disappear.
  • Morning webs: Dew makes orb webs suddenly visible, revealing how many small predators have been working unnoticed among the plants.
  • Fruit preferences: Birds may ignore a berry crop for weeks and then consume it rapidly once frost, ripening or the loss of other foods changes its appeal.
  • The soil after rain: Water that remains on the surface or drains very slowly can reveal compaction and drainage problems before winter arrives.

Observation is one of the gardener’s most useful tools. A note made now about colour, moisture, flowering or wildlife activity may explain a problem – or confirm a successful choice – when growth resumes next year.

Looking Ahead

September 26 reminds us that no garden is simply a collection of decorative plants. It is a working ecological system, a storehouse of genetic possibilities and a place where knowledge acquires names and is handed on. We can make that system more resilient by planting diverse varieties, protecting soil life, retaining useful habitat and recording what we learn. The more closely we understand the relationships within a garden, the better prepared it becomes for the seasons and changes still ahead.