There are few changes I love more than the switch from summer to fall. I know the calendar still has us in summer, but the weather is simply delightful. Clear skies, low humidity and the drop in temperature could not be more welcome.

Plus, I actually found a parking space in Vineyard Haven.

I no longer feel guilty about my pathetic summer garden. I’ve made the move to thinking about some fall planting and even some cover crops.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned putting in some buckwheat where the onions once were. It’s coming along nicely already. I noticed at the end of Meeting House Way in Edgartown there is a huge field of it blooming. There must be some very happy honeybees around there. It can be turned in and replanted with winter rye or simply left to be straw cover. Last year I left it and planted winter rye right on top. If only I had properly dealt with it come spring. I think the rye was well over thigh high by the time I smashed it down and planted tomatoes in the mess. Wonders will never cease, but there are enough tomatoes for the canner.

Speaking of wonders, two years ago I dug up some dead PeeGee hydrangeas. I was fond of their shape so I used them as trellising for morning glories. They are sporting some healthy new leaves. How is that even possible?

Climbing hydrangeas are great for covering an old dead fence or a cement wall. However, word to the wise, and I have warned of this in previous columns: think twice before planting on a wooden house. They will worry the shingles right off. Also, I had them on a property climbing up posts of a second-floor deck. They have gotten between the deck floorboards and threaten to remove said boards.

Goldenrod is spectacular right now. It has a bad name in relation to seasonal allergies. Not to worry, the culprit is ragweed. It’s also yellow, blooming and could be mistaken for the aforementioned.

I transplanted some reseeded leeks in early spring but sadly never got back to harvest them. Again, they reseeded, turned brown and died (I thought). While pulling them up to toss on the compost I discovered new shoots coming from the roots of the dead.

I’ve said repeatedly gardening is nothing but recognition.

The war is Gaza is so horrific that I am practicing restraint of the pen. Because the sanitation system and the medical situation are out of control, there has been an outbreak of polio. There is an effort to vaccinate as many children as possible, thank goodness.

I probably talked about this before, because of my rapidly advancing years, I am familiar with polio. A child in my first-grade class was disabled as a result. Our parents would not let us play outdoors in the “dog days” of summer for fear of the dreaded virus. Then in second grade, I was a polio pioneer. All second graders nationwide were in a study that resulted in the vaccine.

How can I let this end without a tiny bit of politics?

Famous anti-vaxxer RFK Jr. has now thrown his hat in the ring with Donald Trump — a match made in heaven. DJT wants to withhold funds to public schools with vaccine mandates. He’s my age. Does he not remember polio?