I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.

~Henry David Thoreau

When September rolls around, many of us think it's the beginning of autumn. But technically, September is still summer until the Autumn Equinox on the 22nd. I've heard folk commonly refer to our late summers as Indian summers, although the term is not correctly applied to what our climate really presents; a late hot, dry summer followed by cold, wet winters.

According to the Old Farmer's Almanac folk, the criteria for an Indian summer include:

• Warm temperatures, plus the atmosphere during an Indian summer is hazy or smoky; next to no wind; the barometer is standing high and the nights are clear and chilly.
• A moving, cool, shallow polar air mass converts into a deep, warm, stagnant anticyclone (high pressure) system, which has the effect of causing the haze and large swing in temperature between day and night.
• The time of occurrence is important: The warm days must follow a spell of cold weather or a good hard frost.
• The conditions described above must occur between St. Martin's Day (November 11) and November 20. For over 200 years, The Old Farmer's Almanac has adhered to the saying, "If All Saints' (November 1) brings out winter, St. Martin's brings out Indian summer.

The Almanac has several theories as to the origins of the term Indian Summer. One theory is that the term comes from the early Algonquian Native-Americans, who believed that the condition was caused by a warm wind sent from the court of their southwestern god, Cautantowwit (pronounced keh-tah-nuh-tuh-wit). But the folks from the Almanac feel that the term really goes back to the very early settlers in New England. Each year they would welcome the arrival of winter weather in late October because they could leave their stockades unarmed. But suddenly the weather would turn warm again in November allowing the Native-Americans to have one more go at the settlers. The settlers thus coined the term Indian summer for that period.

Regardless of what it's called, as far as I'm concerned, the longer our summers last the better. The bleak, cold dampness seems to go on ad nauseam around here, so I'm grateful for the late, dry weather, although my garden is not. I'll be dragging the hose around trying to appease plants that are complaining, especially the ones in containers. Of course, the weeds never complain. When it gets too hot, my plants wilt, I wilt, the cat wilts, and everyone is grateful for a steady stream of cool water from the hose. Except the cat.

Now, part of keeping your in-ground plants perky and happy all year is having a good layer of mulch on the ground that will help retain moisture and feed the soil. To know which mulch is right, Certified Arborist, Christina Pfieffer is teaching a class, Mulch Matters!, September 6, on different mulch materials and their applications. If your garden needs a pick-me-up of color, Ani Gurnee of Aulos Designs will show you some great Perennials for Fall, on September 13. For those of you who grow pie pumpkins, we are pleased to have Suzanne Butler back to demonstrate some great recipes for using all those pumpkins that go Beyond Pumpkin Pie! And speaking of pumpkins, don't miss our Fourth Annual Skagit Valley Giant Pumpkin Festival on September 27! The Bat Lady, Kathleen Bander, is back to talk about our native bats and there will be games for the kids, pony rides, toad races and of course, the whopping giant pumpkins. Let's see how big they are this year!

The giant pumpkin breed of choice is the Atlantic Giant and here's a great article on the history of its development, written by Steve Connolly of the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers. Our Event is now Great Pumpkin Commonwealth sanctioned, so we are giving the Howard Dill Award for the Prettiest Pumpkin. We look forward to seeing you there.