Anyway, I harvested my first tomatoes last week. If grape tomatoes count. Actually, they're more the size of a small roma tomato. The variety is Juliet. I did pick one mostly-ripe Brandywine and one Mrs. Benson had fallen off a plant. The Mrs. Benson tomatoes are doing very poorly. They either have early blight or alternaria canker. I'm not sure that anything can be done other than trying different varieties net year. It is starting to spread to the Brandywines, as well. I had it last year, as well, but this year it is starting much earlier.
The melons and cucumbers are dying - at least the foliage is. I'm rather disappointed that for all the flowers, there are only 2 melons and 3 cucumbers. I'm still not sure when to harvest the Asian melon, and the internet seems especially vague on the topic. The cucumbers can probably be harvested anytime.
Yesterday I was checking the garden and discovered that slugs had discovered the sweet peppers. For some reason they've ignored the hot peppers. So, I picked the peppers with holes in them and spread some slug pellets around. After cleaning the peppers and cutting out bad spots, I was able to salvage one cup of chopped pepper, and about a cup and a half of pepper strips. The chopped ones went into the freezer, and I used the strips in tonights dinner - I made Ratatouille.
After one harvest of pitifully thin beans, the rest were eaten by something. The second planting looks just as poor. The zucchini died from a hail storm, and took the lettuce with it. (The huge leaves were keeping the lettuce from bolting.)
The hot peppers seem to be doing well, although one plant turned out to be a tomato. I pulled it out, and Mom persuaded me to plant it instead of composting it. It seems very happy and is starting to produce fruit.
So, that's pretty much the sad story of my veggies. The prime suspect for such dismal failure is the excess rain over the past two months and the
~Sarah
4 comments:
We are in the dog days of summer here in Kentucky - and I've grown bored with the garden. I'm sick of having to water things - we are into our 3rd week without significant rainfall. I'm sick of the heat and humidity and all the mosquitos that call me "lunch"!
We had a great summer, but now it's suddenly decided to turn hot and humod. No rain. Everything is drying up. So far the tomatoes look good but I really have to water regularly now. I had a lot of green pepper flowers but only a few produced. I too am sick of the heat.
Sarah. Thank you for visiting my blog and helping me to identify the flowers. I did collect some of the seeds when I took the pictures. I touched some of the pods and saw that they broke open easily. Hopefully I have seeds of each color. So, you just plant the seeds in the spring? I wondered if they might reseed themselves only because I have noticed that they are in the same spot year after year. If I can plant the seeds in the spring, I will plan on that.
This spring I was teaching first grade and we did a plant unit. Each child was able to plant some zinneas or cucumbers. I planted zinneas which I had never had before. WOW! They are so big and doing so well. I plan to plant lots more next year. :-)
My cucumber leaves did the same as you described. My garden is small this year and kind of an experiment. I threw a bunch of squash seeds that I'd collected in the ground, not knowing what they were, so I will be surprised at what I get. I planted really late, so I hope they have time to grow. I do have some started. But, I have noticed that the quash leaves now have a mildewy appearance.... a whitish coating on them. ?????? I don't know why.
I have some tomatoes (from seeds my BIL sent me)which are like cherry tomatoes and some green beans. Fortunately, we didn't have hail this year at our house, just lots of rain, but hail did hit nearby.
Thanks again for helping me out. It was fun to visit your blog.
Mrs. D.
Bobbi- Mosquitoes call me dessert! I know how you feel!
Jane- I guess you have the opposite problem that I do. I hope things cool off soon for you.
Mrs. Dennet - thanks for visiting my blog! I'm so glad I could help with your mystery plant. It sounds like your squash has powdery mildew. I don't recall offhand what to do for it, but try to avoid getting water on the leaves. I don't think it will harm the fruit, but don't quote me on it. :)
~Sarah
Post a Comment