Welcome to the meteorological fall.
In today’s newsletter:
Make them last: You worked hard to grow them. Now, it’s time to dry your herbs and flowers.
“Scarlet Sunrise” is here: Meet the new, sweet, crack-resistant, golden grape tomato nearly a decade in the making.
Swimming access: Philly’s public pools are open for eight weeks, max. One group is trying to get Philly families more year-round swimming options.
☁️ Your weekend weather outlook: Some showers could make Saturday a soggy one. Friday and Sunday may be our best bet for perfect outdoorsy days.
— Paola Pérez (outdoorsy@inquirer.com)
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As temps cool and the growing season winds down, it’s time to cut, dry, and store herbs and flowers from your garden.
This will ensure that they last through fall and winter, giving you fresh options to spice up your favorite recipes or get creative with holiday decorations.
Many varieties of flowers and herbs are best dried upside down, but the process can vary. Here are a few pro-tips to get started:
🌼 Cut flower stalks in the morning after the dew has dried. Damp cuttings could lead to mold or rot.
🌿 Wash your herbs before drying them. Make sure there are no bugs or residue. Let them air-dry for a few days.
🌡️ No dehydrator? No problem. You can also set your oven at a low temperature to help dry herbs faster. However, you won’t want to use either method for flowers.
News worth knowing
Were there fewer lightning bugs in your backyard this season? Here’s why, plus tips on how to make your yard a firefly haven.
Fairmount Park Conservancy and Philadelphia City Rowing will host a free rowing class for beginners on the Schuylkill River on Saturday.
Now that Labor Day has passed, most Philadelphians no longer have access to free, year-round swimming, despite the city’s long history of swim programs. One group wants to change that.
🎤 Now we’re passing the microphone to environmental reporter Frank Kummer.
In the 1930s, Camden-based Campbell Soup Co. and Rutgers University collaborated to breed a tomato for the company’s wildly popular tomato soup.
That Rutgers tomato once dominated the U.S. market, making up 72% of all commercially grown tomatoes. The university, and New Jersey itself, became synonymous with the tomato.
Rutgers has continued to produce various large and medium-size tomatoes over the years. Now, it’s venturing into grape tomatoes.
This month, Scarlet Sunrise, a sweet, crack-resistant, golden grape tomato with a touch of red, makes its debut, nearly a decade in the making after being developed by Rutgers researchers Pete Nitzsche and Tom Orton. — Frank Kummer
Learn about the painstaking process behind the production of the new fruit.
A calming view
I captured this view of the the Schuylkill River from a dock at the Philadelphia Canoe Club.
Have you explored any special spots in our region lately? What are you doing out there? Tell me about your outdoor adventures. You might see them featured in a future newsletter.
👋🏽 “And the summer became the fall / I was not ready for the winter / It makes no difference at all / ’Cause I wear boots all summer long.” Nature calls.
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