Sweater weather in Olympia

Our summers are getting longer. This year the last full week of September was the first time the night temperature dipped below 50. By mid-afternoon, most days this week have been too warm to wear a sweater. Still, it’s time to start shifting our state of mind from seeking cool to seeking cozy.

There’s no doubt it’s fall. It’s chilly in the early morning, the sky is a deeper blue, and the trees are changing color with every passing day. We’ve even seen fallen leaves blowing across the streets, reminding us to look up and enjoy the brief glory of those rows of golden street trees. We might even say a silent thanks to the people who planted them, and all us taxpayers who made that possible. Together, we created something beautiful.

So far this year, climate change has brought us Camelot weather: As Julie Andrews sang, “The rain may never fall till after sundown,” and sure enough, our gardens got an excellent drenching long after dark last Friday night. For most of the week, it’s been as if, as the song says, “By order, summer lingers through September.”

Of course, this will not last. If a look at the calendar doesn’t convince you, just look at that huge pile of pumpkins in front of the grocery store, and the piles of Halloween candy inside.

Nonetheless, the life of the garden is not over. Tomatoes are still ripening. Fall plantings of lettuce, arugula and bok choy are still optimistic about their future. Green beans just keep coming. The squash patch is in its glory: My biggest butternut weighed in at 8.2 pounds.

It’s still too soon for gardeners to hang up our shovels:

• For the last handful of years, the pro-pollinator agenda has advised gardeners to leave our gardens alone at the end of the growing season so that the stems, fallen leaves and weeds can provide overwintering habitat to pollinators and other beneficial insects and small critters that are part of a food web that benefits birds.

But there are exceptions. Clearing the vegetation from the vegetable patch is still probably a sensible idea to prevent harboring slugs, snails, insects and plant diseases. People will no doubt debate this; one hopes the debate will remain congenial. This is gardening, not vaccination policy.

There are also some weeds that need to be banished. Morning glories, for instance. They are a menace and should be pulled up by their sneaky, snaking roots whenever they are seen.

• This harvest season is a good time to visit farmers markets and see what they’re selling. This will give you ideas about what vegetables you might want to grow next year. Unfamiliar squash varieties are worth trying. And what about fava beans? I’ve never grown them, but I just read that they were “a key component in King Charles' Coronation Quiche.” Now I’m going to imagine a coronation every time I make quiche.
• Come spring, you may wish you had a big pile of finished compost, or nicely rotted cow, horse, goat, sheep or chicken manure. (Don’t even think about pig manure. It’s awful.) If you don’t have a big compost pile – or three of them, in various stages of rotted-ness – this is the time to start your search for manure sources.

Compost takes space, knowledge and a bit of skill. There is a mile of information and advice about this online. There’s also a free webinar on composting presented by the Washington State University Extension Service on Wednesday, Oct. 1 from noon to 1 p.m.

But not all of us have space for compost piles.

You would think that entrepreneurial local livestock farmers would market this essential byproduct more aggressively _ not in plastic bags, but in truckloads.

Walrath Landscape Supply has a product called “Moo Magic” that is half cow manure, which they call “dairy waste,” and half Silver Springs compost, which is made from the stuff that people put in our yard waste carts. It will definitely promote plant growth, but it’s not pure manure.  (I know: “pure manure” is not a common word combination, but I’d rather have manure in my garden than “dairy waste.”)

Local livestock manure is easier to find by word of mouth than by Google. You just need friends in farm places. And friends with pickup trucks. These needs might influence who you invite for dinner in the months ahead.

Jill Severn writes from her home in Olympia, where she grows vegetables, flowers, and a small flock of chickens. She loves conversation among gardeners. Start one by emailing her at  jill@theJOLTnews.com.