July 19

Getting about 5 tomatoes a day, plus some glads.  Still some early blight on some tomatoes.  Lots of eggplants. Gave one cabbage to Caroline today, one to Ann-Marie earlier in the month, have 2 left.  Volunteer sunflowers are blossoming but Lisa doesn't like the blooms.

July 13 Storm

Storm dumped 2.65 inches in about 30 minutes Wed. evening. 3 eggplants 2 peppers and 3 tomatoes were tilted over--need to be sure to stake them next year. 

Lisa's resown beets and more beans.  The chard is growing, leeks looking good. Still early blight on the MH at the end, though the PP at the other end seems to be revived.

Tomato Netting Lessons

Got the netting over the tomato bed.  I need to do it earlier next year--some vines are already pushing into the net.

For next year (goal is to have the netting look like a christmas package wrap:

take down the posts used for pea netting
put up the uprights for the cage, leave room for the bottom horizontal to rest in the bed
tie the tomato cages to the uprights securely--do a better job than this year
put up the horizontals
put the netting over the top
stretch it out and secure it on top
do the ends and corners
do the bottom horizontal.

As of July 13 I harvested 3 tomatoes, one with bites out of it.  Plus a lot of glads.

The dahlias aren't doing well, although I cut 3 different blooms.  Lisa's gotten a lot of beans for the few plants we have, the eggplants look to be doing well.

July 9 Tomatoes and Voles

Ann Marie and Caroline both lost beets--Ann Marie is sure it's voles.

Got 1.6 inches of rain yesterday.  Went over this morning, taking the tarragon pot.  It may not have gotten enough sun near the house.  We've harvested 3 tomatoes through yesterday.  There were 3 more today, but all eaten.  Ann Marie would say chipmunks.  I covered part of the tomatoes with netting, after pruning back the early blight branches.

The Morton hybrid by the path produced the earliest tomatoes.  The PP at the other end is the tomato almost killed by early blight.  There's a PP, I think, in the middle which had 2 tomatoes eaten.

Put out the plantcam, next to the compost bin.  Need to check it regularly.

Began harvesting glads around the first of July, now have 3 vases full.

Stolen Beets

Lisa went to the garden last night and discovered someone had stolen our beets, almost all of them.  They clipped off the tops very neatly. I need to get the time lapse camera out there.

I went over this morning (we got about .1 rain this morning), putting some water on the tomatoes and harvested one ripe tomato, which had split and something, maybe birds, had eaten at the split.  Had part for lunch--very tasty.  It looks as if the copper  may be helping on the tomatoes.

Hosta

Some of the hosta have problems I think from this arachnose--I need to avoid midday watering, which I just did yesterday (July 3)  Some of the clusters hostas have died--not sure of the cause.

Eggplant July 2

Eggplants are showing damage to lower leaves, Lisa thinks early blight, internet seems to say verticillium wilt.

Rodale says use mustards as cover crop may help.  Soil fumigation is alternative but maybe not organic.