Everything you need to do in and around the house in September.
Home
Give your house a cleaning to wash away summer’s baked-on grime. With everyone back at school, it’s an excellent time to have your carpets steamed, your windows washed, and anything repaired.
Clean and store patio furniture that won’t be used to keep it looking good for next summer. Put away pool tools.
While the holidays aren’t just around the corner (yet), there’s no reason to refrain from thinking festively. RSVP Soirée offers 10 percent off all Christmas cards and stationery orders during the month of September.
Get your life in order. Cindy Bourne, manager of Personal Spaces, a new personal organizing service offered through Delivery Limited, has turned closets into pet care rooms and armoires into broom closets. “Anything can be a container. It doesn’t just have to be what it was meant for,” Bourne says. Get rid of what you don’t use, including redundant items, to avoid clutter. Analyze how your space can be used and organize it in a way that allows it to serve its designed purpose. Containers are the most practical means of inside storage. Clear containers make it easy to find the items you use most often. Attach photographs to the outside of opaque boxes so you know what’s inside.
Have your irrigation system installed. It’s easier to schedule an appointment now, and the cooler months mean less stress on the grass and plants.
September is a good time to check the sealant on windows and doors because cooler breezes entice homeowners to open windows more during this time. Connie Underhill of North Texas Window and Screen says it’s also a good time to prepare for fall by checking for torn screens, as well as leaks, cracks, or condensation around windows, doors, and fogged windows. These are indications that something needs repairing. As if there weren’t enough reasons to do so, correcting any problems helps to reduce the energy bill and, as dad says, keeps you from heating the whole neighborhood this winter.
Garden
September is a tricky month because sometimes it feels like August and other times it’s like October. In Texas, it normally feels like a summer month. Because of the odd climate, use September as a month of recovery and evaluation of summer’s toll on your garden, and then prepare for fall planting.
Put down a final application of fertilizer before the cooler temperatures arrive.
Spruce up summer pots by adding more fall colors in yellow or orange blooms.
Plant mums in the second week of September for temporary color to get your garden through to pansy season. Once they begin blooming, they will last for seven weeks, but (being a perennial flower) will bloom next year if you leave them in the ground.
Plant dianthus and alyssum in the third week of September.
Make plans to accommodate potted plants indoors when the weather turns colder. Put any tropical plants in warm, humid areas such as a bathroom.
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