September bouquet: dahlias, parsley, radishes and asparagus
The four dahlias I planted this year gave me plenty of flowers for beautiful arrangements all summer and fall, big and small. I liked experimenting with combinations of flowering vegetables and even weeds.
Mini dahlia in soy sauce dish
Unfortunately, the night frost we had a few days ago killed them off and the day after, I dug up the tubers. I cut off the flower stalks leaving about 3 to 4 inches and carefully dug up the tubers using a pitchfork and then gently shook off most of the dirt. I am letting them dry in a paper bag for a few days before I will store them over the winter in the basement. I will trim the stalks to 1 to 2 inches and store the tubers in a basket or some other well ventilated container loosely filled with lightly moistened peat moss or vermiculite. I then inspect them regularly during the winter to make sure they do not rot and do not dry out. Any rotting parts will be removed. Here’s to hoping they will survive.
Last night, we had the first night frost of the season and there will be a few cold nights ahead. I put all our houseplants indoors yesterday, but still need to clean up my plot. The nasturtium and dahlias look limp but all the veggies survived. The dahlia tubers will be dug up today and I will also harvest any tender greens from the plot and put the garden hoses away. The water in our community garden is now shut off. It is also time to clean out the plants in my containers on the porch and bring inside my herbs that I plan to overwinter: rosemary, sage, thyme.
Lightly frosted carrot leaves
Plot in early November: carrots, radishes, parsley, Swiss Chard, leeks, kale, chicory and flowers.
The various stages of delicious sugar snap peas. Both pictures were taken today.
For a number of reasons, I did not start seedlings indoors this year. One of those reasons is that I am not planning to plant fruiting crops in the community garden because of our rodent problems. I want to discourage other gardeners as well to plant anything those critters like so we have a chance of driving them out of our garden. From personal experience I know the rats and mice love watermelons, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn (obviously…) but they left my root and leaf crops alone. So this year, I will be planting root crops, legumes and greens. Plus a lot of flowers and herbs.
I harvested my last carrots today. The light on this late autumn afternoon was so beautiful. No filter needed for this (iPhone) picture. So, no more carrots for the season. Still growing in my garden are: kale, Swiss chard, lettuce, radishes, leeks, arugula and a ton of parsley. And of course the four rows of garlic I planted a couple of weeks ago, but this one I will not enjoy until next summer.
Swiss Chard, garlic scapes and rhubarb, June 22
Spring greens, peas and green beans, July 7
Spring! Things are shaping up in the garden. This past weekend, I hauled in my first harvest of the year – rhubarb. I proceeded to turn those first stalks into one of my favorite spring desserts: 
I had planted seed potatoes (Banana fingerling) on May 9 and today the first plants showed their leaves, so I added another 3 to 4 inches of soil. Today I also transplanted my tomato seedlings (Brandywine, Striped German and Boxcar Willie), only five plants total this year and interplanted them with basil and marigolds. The basil is Nufar and the marigolds are from our local farmer’s market. And the leeks are in as well. The only seedlings I still have going on my back porch now are cucumbers and watermelon.