The end of summer rituals.. the pool, the garden.

[rayinpenn]

It started quietly today, without any fanfare - I got out my trusty shears and trimmed up the first tomato plant. It was mostly spent, the small prolific yellow pear shaped tomatoes were an experiment. They were just ok but no comparison to the sun golds. Since the tomato plant shared its pot with a couple flowers the pot will remain a bit longer.

The pool was shocked and its deck and sidewalls scrubbed, power washed - the late season algae defeated. The filter set to run all night to help the water clarifier do its job. In the morning we will put away the rest of the toys, lower the water level, inflate the pillows and drag out the cover and the leaf net.

I should say the ritual started when I dropped off the freshman at college. My polar bear daughter busy with a job, graduate school and a boyfriend. No there's no one about that would enjoy that cool water. In truth the pool resides in the back of my woodsy lot. The diminishing sun and cool evenings will keep the water too cold for us old people. In truth, I'm happy to forgo the upcoming leaf battle - heaven help us if there's a storm. No I'll turn off the filter, save a few dollars and avoid that uncomfortable closing in cooler temps.

I planted a flat of late season lettuce...Seems like spring just got here... I think I'll grill up a burger before it gets too cold.

 

[W2R]

Good ***, you nearly live at the North Pole. It's 95F outside right now in New Orleans, and hot hot hot. It will be unbearably hot outside for at least a couple of months.

 

[aja8888]

Currently 97 F, 58% humidity, feels like 107 F with no chance of rain for the next 10 days.

We have no Fall preparations envisioned for the next two months. Then it will be winter fertilizer for the dead St. Augustine grass that couldn't get enough water during the heat blast. The grass will comeback, it always does, and so does the HEAT!

No tomato plants, or any other garden here. Bad soil and too hot. Just buy what we need at Wally World or Costco.

 

[REWahoo]

Currently 97 F, 58% humidity, feels like 107 F with no chance of rain for the next 10 days.

We have no Fall preparations envisioned for the next two months. Then it will be winter fertilizer for the dead St. Augustine grass that couldn't get enough water during the heat blast. The grass will comeback, it always does, and so does the HEAT!

No tomato plants, or any other garden here. Bad soil and too hot. Just buy what we need at Wally World or Costco.

+1

My only Fall ritual is the annual Thanksgiving lawn mowing...

 

[rayinpenn]

Just looked at the ten day forecast - string of days with highs in the seventies...

 

[W2R]

+1

My only Fall ritual is the annual Thanksgiving lawn mowing...

Honestly, I can't think of any "Fall rituals". It rains more here than in Texas, so my lawn guy mows year 'round.

In January or so I might start wearing long sleeves and my lawn guy starts mowing every other week instead of every week. I even have a warm jacket but it doesn't get much use here.

Despite my complaints, I'm probably the only person on earth who loves the climate in New Orleans (humidity and all).

But really, to declare summer is ending when we have barely reached the middle of it? That's sure a far northern point of view IMO.

 

[LOL!]

I have St Augustine grass which has mostly survived the summer heat, but has quite a lot of dried brown blades, so the ritual is:

Start lowering the cutting height one notch per week.

Fertilize after Labor Day.

Then in first week of October, cut very short and catch the grass. This gets all the dead blades from summer and leaves only new fresh green blades.

Leave town for a couple of weeks.

Grass continues to grow because it is hot enough, but not so hot that grass dries and dies.

Return home to a spectacular thick green turf with zero dead spots from the summer. It stays this way until March or so.

And yes, don't forget to mow on Thanksgiving raising mowing height one notch.

 

[LOL!]

Another end-of-summer ritual is to prepare and submit last year's tax return before the October deadline.

 

[Ronstar]

rake leaves, clean out gutters, empty & bring in plant containers, bring in pontoon boat and kayak, bring in deck furniture, move hibiscus tree to the workshop. clean/ rearrange garage to fit the boat and all the other stuff, winterize sprinkler system,

Lots to do - probably do this the last week of September.

 

[aja8888]

One thing I do is go through my sweatshirt collection (lots of them!) and pick out a few I will wear when the winter temperature drops under 50 F in the mornings when I walk the dog.

 

[ERD50]

Good ***, you nearly live at the North Pole. It's 95F outside right now in New Orleans, and hot hot hot. It will be unbearably hot outside for at least a couple of months.

Yes, since when is 'penn' (I assume that refers to Pennsylvania) in the Arctic Circle?

I'm in Northern IL, almost to WI, and we are just now getting tomatoes. A/C is on. There won't be any fall rituals around here for about 2 months. Heck, a few years back, I cut the grass on Dec 1 (intentionally held off a day so I can say I cut the grass in December!).



-ERD50

 

[MichaelB]

Yes, since when is 'penn' (I assume that refers to Pennsylvania) in the Arctic Circle?

I'm in Northern IL, almost to WI, and we are just now getting tomatoes. A/C is on. There won't be any fall rituals around here for about 2 months. Heck, a few years back, I cut the grass on Dec 1 (intentionally held off a day so I can say I cut the grass in December!).



-ERD50

Looked to me like just a little poetic license. Besides, if Penn in near the arctic circle, Northern Il is pure Arctic. That is, at least for us southerners.

 

[Marita40]

It has been cool this August in MN. Late summer/fall rituals start very soon: MN state fair (The Great Minnesota Get Together--yeah!!), cut back plants; fertilize lawn; rake, rake, and rake leaves again; compost leaves; clean garage; clean and put garden tools, lawn mower, grill in their places; put patio furniture in garage and cover; get out shovel(s), ice melt, car scrapers; put summer clothes away; get out winter clothes and coats; put increasingly heavy blankets on bed, culminating with monster down duvet (usually comes out in December); make the annual September pilgrimage to the apple orchard; decide which German restaurant to celebrate Octoberfest at; buy several pumpkins, make pumpkin bread, and eat/drink everything pumpkin flavored; do several long fall bike rides; go up North or walk along the Mississippi to leaf peep. Whew! I LOVE fall!!

 

[RobbieB]

It's 90 here and I'm looking forward to fall.

 

[W2R]

Yes, since when is 'penn' (I assume that refers to Pennsylvania) in the Arctic Circle?

I'm in Northern IL, almost to WI, and we are just now getting tomatoes. A/C is on. There won't be any fall rituals around here for about 2 months. Heck, a few years back, I cut the grass on Dec 1 (intentionally held off a day so I can say I cut the grass in December!).



-ERD50

But see? Even you in almost WI, are not doing fall rituals yet either. That's why I was sort of joking around that Ray must now be living at the North Pole. How else could he be thinking of fall rituals yet? was my thought.

Anyway, my bad, it was only half a joke and it fell flat.

 

[W2R]

One thing I do is go through my sweatshirt collection (lots of them!) and pick out a few I will wear when the winter temperature drops under 50 F in the mornings when I walk the dog.

Ah! You have reminded me of one more reason why my home is my "Dream Home".

The master bedroom in my Dream Home has three closets, each of the double door variety. In other words, tons of closet space, every woman's dream.

One of my closets is just for winter clothes like sweatshirts. One is for summer. And the middle one is for anything else. So, when the weather gets cool in maybe January or February, I will just go to that winter clothing closet, look through the sweatshirts that are neatly hanging there, and pick the one I want.

 

[aja8888]

Ah! You have reminded me of one more reason why my home is my "Dream Home".

The master bedroom in my Dream Home has three closets, each of the double door variety. In other words, tons of closet space, every woman's dream.

One of my closets is just for winter clothes like sweatshirts. One is for summer. And the middle one is for anything else. So, when the weather gets cool in maybe January or February, I will just go to that winter clothing closet, look through the sweatshirts that are neatly hanging there, and pick the one I want.

Wow! Very nice closet space!

I'm a displaced northern person having lived 1/2 my life in Connecticut and a spell in Michigan. I still have a small selection of real winter clothes that include heavy, lined boots, goose down vests and jackets, a parka, flannel shirts, etc. But I have not worn any of that in 25+ years. I really need to dump it all.

But my sweatshirts are perfect for this climate and that's my typical winter wear, except for a light jacket if it is raining. I have a sweatshirt that I bought from the Yale bookstore in 1970 and it has a large painted bullfrog on the front. I don't wear that one as it is sacred. (LOL). But each year, DW and the kids give me sweatshirts for XMAS.

 

[foxfirev5]

No fall rituals here in Michigan for awhile. Tomorrow it will back at the lake floating around in a tube and enjoying the warm weather. The nice thing about ER is not letting the calendar run the schedule. The pontoon boat will come out when the weather turns or we just get tired of it and want to hit the road.

 

[pb4uski]

Wow! I'm hundreds of miles north of rayinpenn and we are still in summer mode here.... 81F high today and we just got back from a leisurely hour plus long pontoon ride around the lake... picked up a friend along the way.

While it has been a "wierd' summer, the cool nights of late... mid to high 40s when cool and otherwise low to mid 50s... is the only hint of fall here.

 

[CRLLS]

We're in northern Il also. It can't be close to Fall yet. I haven't completed my Summer chores yet. Air conditioning is still running. Fall routines won't start until mid Oct for us. 3 rounds of leaf collection, (made easy with lawn tractor with rear bagger) and clean up the umpteen gardens.

rayinpenn, back when we had a pool, when our last DS left home, our pool boy went with him. The work/enjoyment ratio for only 3 months of use by 2 people didn't make sense anymore. We ended up removing the pool and never looked back.

 

[Music Lover]

But really, to declare summer is ending when we have barely reached the middle of it? That's sure a far northern point of view IMO.

I'm on the Canadian prairies and no one here thinks of fall until mid-September. It was 32C today (89F)

 

[rayinpenn]

Wow! I'm hundreds of miles north of rayinpenn and we are still in summer mode here....

While it has been a "wierd' summer, the cool nights of late... mid to high 40s when cool and otherwise low to mid 50s... is the only hint of fall here.

It was in fact hot here yesterday and I'm sure we will have plenty of warm days yet. "Weird" yep I can't remember an August with such green grass. Those cool nights spell the end of the pools usability and as I said I am not going to fight the leaf battle. We've had so much rain - I expect that's why the tomatoes are burnt out so early.

Edit: It occurs to me that since I had my knee operation on June the 2nd, this has been a bit of a "wired" lost summer for me. That first few weeks of limited mobility was in prime summer real estate. Still I was on that pool deck vacuuming and spraying for hours. The knee was just fine!

 

[atmsmshr]

End of summer ritual in Florida is to review the National Hurricane Center website on a daily basis.

 

[rayinpenn]

End of summer ritual in Florida is to review the National Hurricane Center website on a daily basis.

I watch it too.. hate to say it but it feels like we are due for a biggie.

 

[Lcountz]

Hey Ray.....NW Penn here.....54 degs this morning, fog to the ground, and a whole string of really cool days and nights coming in the ten-day..

My tomato plants made tomatoes, but they are ALL still green. Flowers did OK, grass definitely did well ( there is a field behind my house that is usually gold by this time...still nice and green....and the bucks in the yard have gorgeous antlers this year...from mild winter last year and plenty to eat this summer....)

I don't have a pool now, but did when I lived in NE PA years ago......As I recall, it was really too cool there too for a pool ( Pocono Mountain area)...

I liked this summer. Really nice days, not too hot, enough rain most of the time that I never watered anything but potted plants. The few days that were "hot" were no where close to what it's been in the past....and the nights were cool enough to sleep....I don't think Lake Erie ever got above 75 degs this summer....

NO AC. Where I live, on top of a ridge near the Allegheny Forest, if it DOES get hot-hot, just when you think you can't stand it, it cools off again. The worst spell I can recall was about 5 days in a row of 90's

Hope we don't Pay for it this winter!!!!!