Last of the beefsteaks.

Sidewalk Greenspace on New York's Upper West Side
Last of the beefsteaks.
How is this my life? Planting daffodil bulbs at night, in the rain.
Total of ten sidewalk treebeds successfully planted tonight, with between one and four dozen daffodil bulbs each, plus a sprinkling of wildflower seeds from a field in the Hudson Valley that we visited this summer. Thank goodness I’m almost done with the autumn planting!
Late blooms on the scarlet runner beans planted in mid-summer.
I love the intense colors of the morning glory assortment outside my office.
I love the deep purple hue of these cayenne peppers, still abundant as the autumn harvest from my garden draws to a close.
This plant blew into the garden from somewhere a few years ago and is now well established. It appears to be a member of the Persicaria family, probably P. maculosa, “Lady’s Thumb,” a member of the knotweed family.
Some sources report that P. maculosa produces a yellow/green dye (with an alum mordant), although one source says red/brown.
Harvested a bunch of tomatoes off my windowsill planters.
Cheery yellow bloom.
I had initially thought that silver ragwort (aka “Dusty Miller”) was an annual, but it turns out to be winter hardy, and several of the ones I planted last year survived our gentle winter and have continued to provide an unusual bit of contrast in the garden this season.
Nominally, anyone can perform tree-bed care activities — such as cleaning, cultivating, watering, and planting — on any sidewalk in New York City.
However, it seems to be generally accepted etiquette that the people who live in a building have “first dibs” on the adjacent tree beds, and thus I am loathe to do much digging unless it’s clear that the people who live or work in that stretch have no interest in doing so.
In hopes of mustering some buy-in from my neighbors, I’ve posted letters in a couple of nearby building, inviting them to join me in planting daffodil bulbs in their tree beds.