The dreaded leaf spot has found the tomato plants.
Having fought (and lost) the battle with that stuff last year, I know that it is imperative to jump right on the problem. Yesterday morning after breakfast, I "suited up" for this year's first skirmish.
While I was gathering up my supplies and grousing to The Husband about how much I hate to spray fungicides on our food, he grabbed the laptop, did an internet search, and discovered a baking soda remedy for blight and leaf spot. I did not think twice about trying it, figuring that it can fail to work just as well as the official store-bought garden chemicals failed to work last year, and without making me feel like I've poisoned the world.
I grabbed the ancient box of baking soda from the depths of the refrigerator and went to work, spraying the plants in both gardens. While doing so, I could not shake the feeling that I was spreading the fungus from the few infected plants to the rest of the plants. But what's a person to do?
I was not very careful about the soda-to-water ratio recommended by the article. The Husband and I converted the metric measurements and concluded, correctly or incorrectly, that the ratio was about 1/3 cup of baking soda to about 3-1/2 gallons of water. My mixture was probably a bit stronger. When I finished spraying, I came in and did my own internet search for ""leaf spot" and "baking soda,"" and found that some people mix the soda with milk (and a tad of oil) instead of water, and that the mixture ought to be sprayed roughly once a week throughout the season.
On a happier note, we harvested our first yellow squash yesterday. About half of the broccoli was also ready to cut. I gave one head away, blanched and froze the rest. I pinched the basil back, and washed, chopped, and froze the leaves in a Ziploc bag. It was kind of nice that the house smelled like basil for a couple of hours afterward.
Oh, and I planted corn (two rows) Friday afternoon. The ground in the early garden was damp, but not nearly as wet as I had expected - didn't lose my shoes to the mud even once.
Bon appetit, crows.
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