Autumn is Here

I don't know where the summer went, but autumn is here1  The leaves are still on the trees here in Brooklyn, but they're beginning to show a tiny bit of change.

In the Cottage Garden I created in the East Fourth Street Garden in my neighborhood, I've begun to cut back the perennials. After I cut back the flowers, I'll put a couple of bags of compost and some vermiculite in the beds to build up the soil. 

In my plot where I grow vegetable and herbs, I make note of what didn't grow.  The corn seeds I planted didn't grow very well -- no ears.  The fennel did well.  So did the parsley.  The rosemary looks good, but the lemon verbena (sometimes a challenge for me to grow) doesn't look so good.  That's too bad, because lemon verbena is just about my favorite herb. It has a strong lemony aroma and unlike some herbs, its lemony odor remains after the leaves are dried.

I have vegetable plots in both the East Fourth Street Garden and in the little community garden in back of the Windsor Terrace library, which is behind the East Fourth Street Garden. 

This year, in the library plot, I grew several hot pepper plants (for a friend from Bangladesh who shares the plot with me).  He loves those hot peppers and the plants produce lots of peppers.  I grew parsley, borage, and a few tomato plants.  This is the second year that the tomatoes have not done well, so I won't be planting any in the future. 

I'll spend the winter planning what to grow in both plots.  More later!