Lord-have-mercy-JESUS, it is hot.
I went to the tomato patch about 6 p.m. today to see how things are doing. This hot, dry weather seems to be slowing down the blight and fungus, but after more than a week of near-100-degree days, the tomatoes appear to be cooking on the vines. This circumstance is doubtlessly aggravated by my having cut so many blight-y leaves off the plants that they're almost naked.
The cucumber vines had 5 good-sized cukes on them, and a whole bunch more babies coming along. Thinking that Pop-Pop might enjoy some cucumbers & onions in vinegar, I picked the big ones, hopped on my bicycle, and delivered them to him.
While I was there, Nanny said that she'd been out in the garden in the early mornings, pulling weeds and chopping grass in the bean rows, but hadn't gotten far. As she has no business out there in this heat, I fired up the little tiller to finish the job. Two and a half hours later, when it grew too dark to see what I was doing, I quit for the day. I barely had enough energy left to straddle the bike and ride it home.
The garden looks far better, though. And as I was laying the bean plants over so that I could run the tiller close to them, I was encouraged to see loads of pods hanging on most of the vines. The green beans are being persnickety and not producing much. Tomorrow, I'm going to fertilize them and give them a good soaking with the water hose to see if I can nudge them into action.
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Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Work a Little, Whine a Lot
It's about 8:30 a.m. Already, I've spent an hour and a half in the tomato patch removing fungus-infested leaves, barely making it to the end of the first row. We're working a bad case of leaf spot. To make matters worse, I saw tomato worm poop around some of the plants. Looks like another spraying session is in order.
Unfortunately, the fungicide I ordered hasn't come in yet. Maybe it will be here tomorrow. But I have a busy week ahead at work that will require me to hit the road early every morning, meaning that I will be able to do my gardening only in the evenings. The temperature here is predicted to be in the high 90s almost every day. It's going to be torture working out there in the evenings.
Not for the first time this year, I am regretting having planted such a big garden.
Part of this morning's labor involved uncoiling the extra garden hoses I bought early in the season to see if they will stretch all the way to the tomato patch. Thankfully, they reached. So far, I haven't needed them because of all the rain, but it looks like a dry spell is upon us. I was tempted to do some watering this morning, but seeing all the leaf spot, I thought it might be insane to encourage it with more water.
The original garden plot has finally dried out a little, but probably not in time to save the squash plants. By now, they should be big and leafy, and loaded with squash. Instead, they are scrawny and yellow, and their fruit is rotting before getting big enough to eat. If I can stand the heat late this evening, I intend to plant new seeds in a different part of the garden.
My onion crop has been disappointing, too. They've been soaking in water, like the squash plants. Yesterday, when I went to Nanny's house, she handed me a small paper bag, along with an apology. Seems she had been weeding the onion row and had accidentally pulled up most of the red onions I'd planted.
On the bright side, the cucumbers are beginning to make. I picked two nice ones this morning, and saw many, many more babies on the vines. I intend to make the best of the situation. Tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions (even tiny ones), mixed with fresh oregano, a little garlic, and some olive oil, will make a yummy salad for dinner tonight. I'll go mix it up right now!
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Unfortunately, the fungicide I ordered hasn't come in yet. Maybe it will be here tomorrow. But I have a busy week ahead at work that will require me to hit the road early every morning, meaning that I will be able to do my gardening only in the evenings. The temperature here is predicted to be in the high 90s almost every day. It's going to be torture working out there in the evenings.
Not for the first time this year, I am regretting having planted such a big garden.
Part of this morning's labor involved uncoiling the extra garden hoses I bought early in the season to see if they will stretch all the way to the tomato patch. Thankfully, they reached. So far, I haven't needed them because of all the rain, but it looks like a dry spell is upon us. I was tempted to do some watering this morning, but seeing all the leaf spot, I thought it might be insane to encourage it with more water.
The original garden plot has finally dried out a little, but probably not in time to save the squash plants. By now, they should be big and leafy, and loaded with squash. Instead, they are scrawny and yellow, and their fruit is rotting before getting big enough to eat. If I can stand the heat late this evening, I intend to plant new seeds in a different part of the garden.
My onion crop has been disappointing, too. They've been soaking in water, like the squash plants. Yesterday, when I went to Nanny's house, she handed me a small paper bag, along with an apology. Seems she had been weeding the onion row and had accidentally pulled up most of the red onions I'd planted.
On the bright side, the cucumbers are beginning to make. I picked two nice ones this morning, and saw many, many more babies on the vines. I intend to make the best of the situation. Tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions (even tiny ones), mixed with fresh oregano, a little garlic, and some olive oil, will make a yummy salad for dinner tonight. I'll go mix it up right now!
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Mid-June Checkup
Here's a view of the tomato patch from the garden gate. There are also peppers, cucumbers, herbs, and squash out here, on the far side of the tomatoes, as well as some sunflowers and zinnias.
Leaf spot or no, the tomatoes are kicking butt.
So are the peppers!
Part of the "original" garden plot in Nanny's back yard.
Great Northern beans and cabbages coming right along.
Heh...Gordy's "got back."
The beans have tied up his noise makers, so he's more beautiful than functional. ;)
And my first little harvest (minus one ripe tomato and half a head of broccoli that I shared with Nanny and Pop-Pop).
Sunday, June 14, 2009
How Can This Be?
When we returned from our camping trip, I rushed to the tomato patch to see how it was doing. To my dismay, I discovered that in the 4 short days that we were gone, the leaf spot returned with a vengeance. How can this be? I removed infected leaves and drowned those plants (and the soil around them) in fungicide the day before the camping trip. I thought that, even if I'd left some infected leaves - ones that had the fungus but were not yet showing damage - the fungicide would have taken care of the problem. Evidently not!
Nanny said that it had rained nearly every day while we were gone, which would have washed off some of the fungicide. But I know that the fungicide got at least 24 hours on the leaves. Does it take longer than that to work?
Another possible explanation for the return of the fungus is that I tilled around the tomatoes after I sprayed them, and I did not go back and spray the soil again. The fungus lives in the soil. I probably killed the ones on the surface, then turned up new, living monsters to attack my plants. And, with all this warm rain, fungus growth conditions have been ideal.
The frustrating part is that I can't do anything about it right now. I want to try a different fungicide - one that contains copper. The garden center only had it in expensive gallon jugs. They're ordering some quart containers, which won't be here until Tuesday. Even if I had the stuff right now, there wouldn't be any point in applying it, as it's still raining and is supposed to rain again tomorrow. But, come Tuesday afternoon, lookout fungus, I'm coming for you.
On the up side, I did discover a few almost-ripe tomatoes on the vines. I'm going to leave them there until they are perfectly ripe, then I'm going to make myself a delicious tomato & mayo sandwich on sourdough bread, if a squirrel or some other beast doesn't beat me to them.
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Nanny said that it had rained nearly every day while we were gone, which would have washed off some of the fungicide. But I know that the fungicide got at least 24 hours on the leaves. Does it take longer than that to work?
Another possible explanation for the return of the fungus is that I tilled around the tomatoes after I sprayed them, and I did not go back and spray the soil again. The fungus lives in the soil. I probably killed the ones on the surface, then turned up new, living monsters to attack my plants. And, with all this warm rain, fungus growth conditions have been ideal.
The frustrating part is that I can't do anything about it right now. I want to try a different fungicide - one that contains copper. The garden center only had it in expensive gallon jugs. They're ordering some quart containers, which won't be here until Tuesday. Even if I had the stuff right now, there wouldn't be any point in applying it, as it's still raining and is supposed to rain again tomorrow. But, come Tuesday afternoon, lookout fungus, I'm coming for you.
On the up side, I did discover a few almost-ripe tomatoes on the vines. I'm going to leave them there until they are perfectly ripe, then I'm going to make myself a delicious tomato & mayo sandwich on sourdough bread, if a squirrel or some other beast doesn't beat me to them.
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Sunday, June 7, 2009
Time for a Break
It took about 5 more hours, but I finally finished defungusing and debugging the tomatoes yesterday. Now, I just need to run the tiller between the rows to de-grass, and, hopefully, the tomato patch can be on auto-pilot for a few days.
The "bean garden" is looking good. The Great Northern beans are blooming. The running beans - green beans and limas - are halfway up their supports, already.
The squash plants have little yellow squashes on them. They should be "eating size" in a couple of days. I planted a few zucchini seeds yesterday. Since the ground is warm and moist, they should pop right up.
The pepper plants have made a few jalapeno and bell peppers big enough to eat. I hope they save their energy and make their big crop just as the tomatoes are ripening so that I can have enough peppers for salsa.
Eggplants are blooming.
The okra is only about 3" tall. It's waiting for some serious summer heat before it'll begin to produce.
The broccoli, which I planted far too late, is making heads. So are the cabbages. Only one purple cabbage plant survived the rabbit, but it is beautiful enough to be in a flower garden.
The sweet peas, which I also planted too late, are about to poop out in this heat. Next week, I'll probably pull them up and plant more squash in their place.
Meanwhile, I'm going camping in the Ozarks. See you in a few days!
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The "bean garden" is looking good. The Great Northern beans are blooming. The running beans - green beans and limas - are halfway up their supports, already.
The squash plants have little yellow squashes on them. They should be "eating size" in a couple of days. I planted a few zucchini seeds yesterday. Since the ground is warm and moist, they should pop right up.
The pepper plants have made a few jalapeno and bell peppers big enough to eat. I hope they save their energy and make their big crop just as the tomatoes are ripening so that I can have enough peppers for salsa.
Eggplants are blooming.
The okra is only about 3" tall. It's waiting for some serious summer heat before it'll begin to produce.
The broccoli, which I planted far too late, is making heads. So are the cabbages. Only one purple cabbage plant survived the rabbit, but it is beautiful enough to be in a flower garden.
The sweet peas, which I also planted too late, are about to poop out in this heat. Next week, I'll probably pull them up and plant more squash in their place.
Meanwhile, I'm going camping in the Ozarks. See you in a few days!
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Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Fungus Part 2
I went back to work in the tomato patch yesterday after the cloud passed, but even with my husband's help, I did not finish removing all of the infected leaves. After work today, we got busy and managed to cut off the rest of the freckled leaves. We were ruthless with our knives. The tomato plants now look almost like miniature palm trees - naked stalks, with little tufts of leaves at the tops.
Just as I finished fertilizing the tomato plants, another storm cloud blew in. Less than 5 minutes after we returned to the house, the bottom fell out of the sky. It's pouring rain right now. I'm glad I didn't have time to apply the fungicide/pesticide mixture, as the rain would have promptly washed it off.
The forecast for tomorrow shows more rain, but clear skies on Friday. Hopefully, the fungus won't eat the rest of the leaves before I have a chance to spray.
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Just as I finished fertilizing the tomato plants, another storm cloud blew in. Less than 5 minutes after we returned to the house, the bottom fell out of the sky. It's pouring rain right now. I'm glad I didn't have time to apply the fungicide/pesticide mixture, as the rain would have promptly washed it off.
The forecast for tomorrow shows more rain, but clear skies on Friday. Hopefully, the fungus won't eat the rest of the leaves before I have a chance to spray.
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Tuesday, June 2, 2009
A Fungus Among Us
Despite having planted my entire tomato crop in a location far, far away from last year's blight-stricken garden, the tomato plants have developed a freckly fungus - Septoria leaf spot, if my guess is correct. They also have some tiny little critters on them. Time to get out the sprayer.
Pop-Pop said that I could mix the pesticide and the fungicide together in the same water, and knock out two problems with one spraying. I mixed up the first gallon of the concoction and had almost emptied the sprayer when dark clouds began to thunder overhead. I high-tailed it to the house, hoping it's all noise and no rain, so as not to wash off the pesticide/fungicide I've already applied, and I'm hoping the clouds will pass over soon so that I can get back to the garden this evening before dark.
The online articles I've read about Septoria and blight suggested that one means of preventing infection is to remove leaves that are close to the ground before the blight ever starts, and to thin out the foliage, overall, to improve air circulation. Next year, I'm going to be vigilant about doing that, to see if it helps. As for now, I'm cutting off all of the infected leaves, taking them away from the garden, and absolutely hosing the remaining leaves, top and bottom, with the sprayer.
I hate, hate, hate having to put this stuff on my vegetables.
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Pop-Pop said that I could mix the pesticide and the fungicide together in the same water, and knock out two problems with one spraying. I mixed up the first gallon of the concoction and had almost emptied the sprayer when dark clouds began to thunder overhead. I high-tailed it to the house, hoping it's all noise and no rain, so as not to wash off the pesticide/fungicide I've already applied, and I'm hoping the clouds will pass over soon so that I can get back to the garden this evening before dark.
The online articles I've read about Septoria and blight suggested that one means of preventing infection is to remove leaves that are close to the ground before the blight ever starts, and to thin out the foliage, overall, to improve air circulation. Next year, I'm going to be vigilant about doing that, to see if it helps. As for now, I'm cutting off all of the infected leaves, taking them away from the garden, and absolutely hosing the remaining leaves, top and bottom, with the sprayer.
I hate, hate, hate having to put this stuff on my vegetables.
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