Autumn may have finally arrived.
The garden has started dying back, the tomato plant curling in and the sweet potato vines starting to shrivel and turn brown. The okra continues to make one last push for the sun, awaiting the first true cold front to blow through and finish matters.
Temperatures are finally starting move - every so slowly, into that range where the two weeks we call "Autumn" here are actually worth living here: cool nights, pleasant mornings, and the humidity has gone off to wherever it flies to at this time of year (Does it go south with the Geese? If it does, it has never confessed so to me).
Flocks of birds are returning - the little fellows, chickadees and swallows, that strip out the bird feeder before continuing their travel beyond our chilling Winters. The squirrels have gone into overtime here burying acorns everywhere they can, leaving divots in the beds in front of the house.
Our leaves here will not drop until February if they are native trees (one thing I can never get used to, although being too cold and bundling up to rake leaves beats being too warm ); the few non-natives are going yellow and preparing to release their leaves anytime soon now to be gathered up and placed into the bags to go off to wherever lawn waste goes to die.
The Earth is settling in for Long Cold.
I never got into raking leaves, much to the chagrin on my neighbors. I even had one give me the business card to a professional leaf raker that he says does a wonderful job. The problem as you mentioned is that my 2 acres are full of native oaks, hickories and cherry trees that generally won't lose their last leaf until sometime after the new leaves have already budded out. Many of my neighbors all have non-native trees that lose their leaves on October 15th plus or minus a day. I have compromised by mulching them into the grass with a mower a couple times in the fall weather permitting but many just blow off downwind.
ReplyDeleteEd, it is truly not my favorite of tasks. However, if I do not rake them they will eventually kill the lawn (such as it is), and because we will eventually sell this house I need to keep it in some kind of order. The front of our house is on a bit of downward slope to our driveway and entrance so if I do not rake them periodically they just bunch up when we get our periodic downpours.
DeleteWe are looking forward to the final lawn cutting of this year.
ReplyDeleteThat date is sort of linked to seeing the "right" amount of dropped leaves on the lawn.
If the dropped leaf cover is thin, then the grass will need to be cut another time, but if the grass leaf cover is to heavy, then mowing the lawn produces a cloud of leaf dust.
It's not an exact science.
It does mark a season of change.
John - I bet if we all compared notes, we would find subtle local clues that indicate that Autumn and Winter have finally arrived. I get the final lawn mowing: I keep an eye on the grass height. When it is pretty much slow, I am done.
DeleteYou are entirely right, it is not an exact science.
Autumn is in full swing here too. It's been lovely have a snow-free October for a change (knock on wood!!). It's still pretty chilly at night, but the days are nice, crisp and sunny!
ReplyDeleteRain, I am a little surprised - I have acquaintances in Minnesota that have already gotten snow. How nice to have that happen yet.
DeleteWe are coldish (for us, it probably nothing for you Northerners, 7-11 C at night), but are looking forward to 20-25 C days into next week. Which is a pleasant change. Maybe we will get an Autumn longer than two weeks this year.