Questions for Northerners by Southerners or vice-versa in the USA?

[SC Minnie]

Southeners: Sorry if this was asked before, I didn't scroll through 17 pages on this......

If you grow vegetables, does a plant basically stay indefinitely and you just cut back areas? I am in the north. Coming up soon, my vegetables will stop producing the new veg, but the vegetables that have already started growing will continue until ripe for picking. Then come probably Sept once I get all the vegetables off it, I will pull out the plant and discard it. Plant new ones next year.

Do you have the same vegetable plant for years? Or are they all just about a 6-month use?

We always had a large garden every year growing up (I hated tending to the garden, weeding, and picking). The plants die at the end of their cycle like annuals. They have to be replanted every year from plants (seedlings) or seeds depending on the plant.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

As someone who has lived in the south now for decades, I find humor in the thought that "summer ends." It will probably be summer here until at least early November and here I am trying on a pair of fall/winter dressy boots to see if they now fit after weight loss. The good news...YES, they fit! The bad news...I probably have another 3-4 months before we get enough of a cool snap that I can wear them and not sweat like crazy.

 

[barkley]

As a northerner, I'm starting to feel that little but of coolness creeping into the air, noticing one or two species of tree changing just a bit, etc. - It feels like fall is coming.

i'm in the north as well. we are starting up another of our regional heat waves but i've noticed that this year the plants are starting to change colors much earlier. I'm wondering if we will have a snowy halloween this year.

 

[RangerPooh]

As a former west coaster who now lives in the south, I hate summer!!!! It’s too hot and humid to do anything. I had too many to count 110* days growing up in CA (we did t have ac), but that was dry heat. Our recent 100*+ days with humidity is horrible! Thankful we’ve stopped into the 80s for this weekend, but know it so t last long, and we haven’t had rain in a while either. I gave up on having a garden years ago when they just burned or died on the vine. I had an amazing garden in WA.

Fall seems far away. To the poster who questioned if they’d have snow by Halloween, been there. When we lived in the PNW our kids had to wear their costumes under their winter coats every year. Here they do not.

 

[barkley]

As a former west coaster who now lives in the south, I hate summer!!!! It’s too hot and humid to do anything. I had too many to count 110* days growing up in CA (we did t have ac), but that was dry heat. Our recent 100*+ days with humidity is horrible! Thankful we’ve stopped into the 80s for this weekend, but know it so t last long, and we haven’t had rain in a while either. I gave up on having a garden years ago when they just burned or died on the vine. I had an amazing garden in WA.

Fall seems far away. To the poster who questioned if they’d have snow by Halloween, been there. When we lived in the PNW our kids had to wear their costumes under their winter coats every year. Here they do not.

there is a SPECTACULAR neighborhood near us that goes all out for Halloween and one house in particular always has a fire pit set up in their driveway with a huge vat of hot chocolate to hand out b/c even if it's not snowing it's never 'warm' since the average daytime temps around us are around 52 and once it gets dark it drops into the high 30's

I'm with you on the dry vs humid hot differences. I can tolerate triple digit dry heat no problem but the most pleasant weather we ever encountered in Florida was one December during what their local news was calling a 'terrible cold snap' and all the locals were wearing puffer jackets and scarves and mittens while we were running from place to place in shorts and tanktops.