Season finale A garden is all about rhythmLike the ebb and flow of a single wave as it comes to meet the shore, then recedes, a year in the garden has a buildup, an explosion, a recession then a pause before the cycle begins again.

You can't face a September without the sense that the burst is finished. The blast of spring and summer growth is quieting down, dying back, browning and drying out. It's all part of Nature's yearly tide.

As we pack off the kids to school with new pencils and clean backpacks, we begin to think aboudecreasing our watering, putting away the plant food and trimming back the dead foliage for fall.

We make notes (mental or literal) about what we want to plannext spring for summer's bloomI never got those sunflowers planted this year and I regret itNext year I won't overlook themI'm thinking about where I might build another vegetable bed on the hillside so that I can increase the variety of my summer vegetable harvest. I've saved seeds from my mystery vegetable-lemon cucumber as it turns out--and thank you to all the readers who e-mailed their thoughts on that conundrum. Next year I'll include it in my crop and I'll be sure to mark its whereabouts.

LEAVES OF GRASS-The beauty of the transition from summer to fall is evident in the garden's details.

But not everything about September says it's time to let the garden sleep. It's also time to turn our attention to fall's garden. Though that's more about trimming and raking (yes, there are those of us who still rake rather than "blow" our dead leaves- what's a gardener without blisters anyway? And don't forget to add those nice dried leaves to the compost pile). It's also a time to plant fall bulbs like freesias and narcissus and time to plant a colorful e bulb cover. Forget-menots and sweet alyssum work well.

There are several perennials that will perk up the fall garden with color like mums and daylilies. Sweet peas like the warm weather for germinating and the cooler weather for blooming and add a delicate, sweet-smelling touch to the garden.

I'm planning one more feeding all around before I cut back

for the winter months. I'll be trying my hand at a fall vegetable garden this year and plan to grow spinach and lettuce. I hear it's a good time for growing beets but those will never make it in this household.

T h o u g h summer's nearly finished we'll still have hot dry days coming in October so we can't turn down the water just yet. But it's in the air this morning. That nip,

that subtle freshness that says the growing season is coming to a close. It's an expectation of cooler, quieter times in the garden. It's as if the land is preparing

to take a deep breath, a sigh, with the knowledge that it can rest for a time. Rest and regroup.