New York Today: Cucumber Time Similar phrases exist in Danish, Czech, Slovene, Hebrew and Icelandic, though we unimaginative American journalists refer to the period as "slow news season." This summer in New York, what with two fierce political races and the city's policing tactics under scrutiny, there has been relatively little cucumber time. Nevertheless, there is cucumber news. In the city's biggest community garden, at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, the cukes are ripening on the vine. Not just dark-skinned green ones and bumpy Kirbys, but yellow cucumbers, spherical ones the size of golf balls and even, in the plot of the garden president, Adriann Musson, wrong-looking brown-skinned cucumbers of Indian origin. Ms. Musson offered a persuasive argument for the relevance of the cucumber. "Cucumbers are nutritious," she said. They refresh tired eyes. They're easy to grow, they make great pickles - and New Yorkers love their pickles. There is even some controversy in cucumberland. The National Park Service, landlord of the 7.43-acre garden, wants to begin charging for water and land use, Ms. Musson said. "Cucumbers take a lot of water," she said. If we have to pay a water bill and I have to limit how much water people use, what's going to happen to our vegetables? Here's what you need to know for your Monday. WEATHER Greyish in the morning, and there will be a small chance of afternoon showers or even a thunderstorm, though the temperature will top out only around 80. Mass Transit: [6:46] There are no 6 trains between Hunts Point Avenue and 125 Street in both directions, (there are shuttle buses available) and a number of 4 trains are running local. Make sure to have extra time to travel.Click for latest M.T.A. status. Metro-North schedules are changing today because of track work in the Bronx. Roads: [6:46] Traffic is moving well. The mayoral candidate Anthony D. Weiner meets senior citizens on the Upper West Side in the late morning. William C. Thompson Jr. hits the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series in Brooklyn this evening. Bill de Blasio rallies against hospital closures with a slew of celebrities in the West Village. In the comptroller's race, Scott M. Stringer campaigns with former Gov. David A. Paterson, once the running mate of his competitor, Eliot Spitzer. Novak Djokovic, the top tennis player in the world, greets fans at the Uniqlo on 5th Avenue at 6 p.m. Hopefully the sun will come out today, not tomorrow, because "Annie" is screening in Astoria Park at 8:30 p.m. Bryant Park's last movie of the season: "E.T. the Extra Terrestrial." Start saving a seat at 5 p.m. Los Muros Hablan, a weeklong international urban art festival in Harlem, starts today. Too much to list here: Click for info. Laugh along with the Brooklyn Comedy Festival at Spike Hill, 186 Bedford Avenue. Doors open at 7:30. The Red Hook Film Fest is now accepting Hurricane Sandy-themed entries. Learn about cartooning in a lecture class, part of a series dubbed the New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium. 7 p.m. at 2 West 13th Street. A deal has been reached to retool the city's restaurant grading system, including lessening some fines. Staten Island Advance The mother of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager who was shot and killed by a man volunteering for neighborhood patrol, spoke out on television against New York Police Department's stop-and-frisk policy. Someone left their alligator in a Westchester County pond. The Daily News, The New York Post and the editorial board of The New York Times all endorsed Scott M. Stringer as the democratic candidate for comptroller over his opponent Eliot Spitzer. A 26-year-old rookie cop shot himself in the leg when re-holstering his gun during a call to a Bedford-Stuyvesant block party. The damage from a vehicle fire that partially melted a beam of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge over the weekend has been mostly repaired. On his radio show on Friday, Mayor Bloomberg suggested that New York City public housing residents should have fingerprint access to their buildings, to reduce trespassing. The 19th Amendment, which permitted women to vote in the United States, had its 93rd birthday over the weekend. And (as with all good things, we think) New York City played a role. The National Woman Suffrage Association was founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in New York City in 1869. The group split with other suffragist associations on several issues, including how to make suffrage happen. While some wanted to work on changing voting rules state-by-state, the New York-based association strove for something considered more radical at the time - nothing less than an amendment to the nation's constitution. Only over five decades later would their dream be realized. Post a comment, e-mail Sarah Maslin Nir or reach us via Twitter at @nytmetro using #NYToday.