Today is the last full day of summer. Fall officially arrives tomorrow evening — the equinox lands at 8:05 p.m. on Tuesday, September 22 — and if you’ve lived in the North Country more than a year, you know what that means: mornings go cold, the yard work shifts gears, and every weekend between now and the first snow has a job attached to it.
Here’s the rundown of what to start thinking about now, while it’s still pleasant to be outside doing it.
The yard and garden
Harvest before the frost. Watertown’s average first frost lands around October 6, and up in the hills or out in low-lying spots it can come earlier. Tomatoes, peppers, and the rest of the tender stuff shouldn’t wait until you’re scraping ice off the windshield.
Plant garlic. October is garlic-planting time around here — get the cloves in before the ground freezes and you’ll be eating your own garlic next July. One of the easiest wins in a North Country garden.
Give the lawn one last good cut. Growth will stop soon, and leaves matted down under snow all winter mean snow mold in the spring. Rake or mulch-mow the leaves rather than leaving a thick blanket.
Bring the tender plants in. Houseplants that summered on the porch, tropicals, anything that can’t take a hard frost — they’re on borrowed time now.
The house
Furnace and chimney. If you heat with a furnace, get it serviced before you actually need it. If you burn wood, get the chimney swept before burning season — chimney fires are one of those things that only happen to people who figured they’d get around to it.
Outdoor faucets. Shut them off, disconnect the hoses, drain and store them. A frozen hose bib in November turns into a plumber’s bill in December.
Gutters. Once the leaves are down, clean them out. Nobody wants to do it; everybody regrets skipping it.
Firewood. If your stack isn’t covered on top yet, this is the week. Seasoned wood stays seasoned; uncovered wood just soaks up October rain.
The vehicles
Snow tires. Studded tires become legal in New York on October 16. The tire shops in Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties get absolutely slammed once the first flakes fall, so book the appointment now instead of standing in line later.
Winter kit back in the car. Blanket, ice scraper, jumper cables, a shovel. It’s been riding around in the garage since April — put it back.
The mower-snowblower swap
This is the week the garage rearranges itself. Service the snowblower now — fresh fuel or stabilized fuel, check the spark plug and the belts — instead of discovering it won’t start in January. Drain or stabilize the mower’s gas and it’ll thank you in May.
The seasonal shift outdoors
Hunting. Archery season for deer opens Sunday, September 27 across the Northern Zone and runs through October 23 — full details here.
Fishing. The regular inland trout harvest season closes October 15. After that, trout streams shift to catch-and-release with artificial lures only through March 31. Trout fishing in lakes and ponds shuts down after October 15 unless a water has special regulations, so check DEC’s guide for the water you fish.
Apples and cider. The apple harvest is hitting full stride right now. New York’s harvest starts in late August with early varieties, but the heart of the season — McIntosh and Honeycrisp in mid-September, Empire and Macoun from late September into October — is when North Country orchards and cider mills are running at full speed. That’s the window for the classic fall outing.
Burrville Cider Mill — 18176 County Route 156, just outside Watertown — is in the thick of it, open daily through the fall season (check their site or Facebook page for current hours). They typically press cider Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, with the best viewing between 10 and noon. Go for the donuts; stay for the waterfall.
Pumpkins and Halloween. Pumpkin patches are loading up, and Halloween is five weeks out. Fall is officially short around here — might as well enjoy all of it.
A lot of this is the kind of thing you already know if you’ve done a few North Country falls. But the years always have a way of filling up fast once October hits, so the stuff you knock out this week is the stuff you don’t have to think about when it’s 28 degrees and blowing sideways.
Happy fall, North Country.
Related:
- 2026 Northern Zone Bow Season: Dates & Rules for NNY Hunters
- Fall Is One of New York’s Highest-Crash Seasons
- Chasing Fall Color in the Adirondacks
Sources:
- Old Farmer’s Almanac / NASA — Fall equinox 2026: Tuesday, Sept. 22, 8:05 p.m. EDT — https://www.almanac.com/content/first-day-fall-autumnal-equinox
- Almanac.com frost dates (NOAA 1991–2020 normals) — Watertown, NY: average first fall frost Oct. 6 — https://cdn.almanac.com/gardening/frostdates/NY/Watertown
- NYSDEC 2026 Freshwater Fishing Regulations Guide (inland trout seasons, p. 3) — https://ar.dec.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/fishguide.pdf
- Burrville Cider Mill (official site) — season hours, pressing schedule — http://burrvillecidermill.com/
- NY Apple Association (via Produce News) — harvest progression by region and variety timing — https://theproducenews.com/new-york-apple-association-stays-busy-ahead-harvest-season
- 2026 NY apple harvest calendar — variety harvest dates (Honeycrisp, McIntosh, Cortland, Empire, Macoun) — https://www.Honeycrisp.com/harvest-times
- NYS Vehicle & Traffic Law §375(35a) and NYS DMV — studded tires permitted October 16–April 30 — https://www.longisland.com/news/10-14-16/dmv-nys-studded-snow-tires-permitted-beginning-october-16.html
Facts verified 2026-09-21 against the sources above before publication.