* If you have had problems with carrot whitefly – those disgusting little worms that make tunnels – it’s best to pull carrots as soon as they’re ready, even though the standard advice is to leave them and simply harvest as needed. When the whiteflies keep reproducing, as they well might in weather like this, carrots that are gorgeous now can be bug-riddled by Thanksgiving.

* The heavy rains have loosened the soil, so this is a good time to dig the roots of tenacious weeds like dandelion and poke. It’s also a good time to move perennials, should that happen to be on your list.

* Feel free to be tempted by bargain bulbs, which should be appearing any day now, but beware of soft spots. A little mold won’t hurt anything, but lots of it is a bad sign. Avoid fertilizing with bone meal if you have skunks in the neighborhood; it often attracts them to dig up the bulbs. The jury is still out on the mad cow angle, but if I were sprinkling bone meal around, I’d be wearing a good mask.