more on late blight
Late blight seem to be the only conversation topic I hear this week at our community gardens. I hear yelling from across the way about newly discovered dead tomato plants. I hear long technical discussions among groups of gardeners. And everyone spends a fair amount of time walking around and looking at tomato and potato plants in other plots. People come by my plot to chat and they know whose plants look good and whose are dead. They remind me that I should be bagging and destroying the foliage so…
my 1st cuke: a NC heirloom pickling cucumber
What a FANTASTIC cucumber! My first of the season and probably the best cuke I’ve ever tasted. Its a North Carolina Heirloom Pickling Cucumber (seed from from Sand Hill Preservation Center). They describe it as “a wonderful 2″ to 3″, blocky, creamy white cucumber. Makes superb dill pickles. Stay crisp when pickled.” I could add: a fantastic fresh lemony flavor and incredibly crisp fresh off the vine! I can’t wait for more. Cheers to the first of the season!
monarch butterfly on milkweed flowers
This is the first Monarch I have seen on the fields by the gardens this year. The milkweed is in full bloom and, with the warmer and dryer weather, lots of butterflies are out and about. I was asked about the Monarchs’ Spring migration and didn’t know, so I looked it up. They arrived in the Boston area (from Mexico) in June, but I just hadn’t spotted one until now. They will have several generations here before they migrate back down to Mexico in September. wildflowers, weeds, invasives and nativesbutterflies…
wild turkey with poults
A fun sighting today. Skippy and I came across this wild turkey hen and a bunch of little babies just outside the community gardens. The poults look pretty small.
potatoes, potatoes
On Sunday, a week after cutting down most of my badly blight damaged (Late Blight) potato plants, I found more blight damage. Actually all my varieties now show a lot of blight spots. But the earlier varieties are worse off. The Russet foliage (a late variety) is nice and green still, but leaves have lots of brown/moldy looking spots. The Red Gold (early variety) plants were yellowed falling over and with brown/moldy leaf spots. Its normal for the plants to die back, and I don’t know how much the blight…
eggplant blossoms
Another sign that summer is finally approaching: my eggplants have started to bloom. They’re a bit mud spattered, but seem to be enjoying the sunny blue sky today.
garden work
Yesterday I spent several hours at my plot. Aside from weed whacking and pruning the weeds in the community garden paths, I: – chopped down the Red Gold potato plants and two more tomato plants because of blight– dug all the fingerling potatoes volunteers from the path– dug one plant of Red Gold’s– pulled fat green caterpillars off the cabbage– watched the favas and zucchini grow for a while– admired the lettuce– harvested on garlic bulb to see if they’re ready yet– sprayed potato and tomato plants heavily with copper…
This is a journal of my vegetable gardens. Skippy thinks the garden is his, even though I do all the work. We're located near Boston, in USDA zone 6. I have bees, chickens, fruit trees and berry bushes, too. I use all sustainable organic methods and strive to grow all of my family's vegetables myself. -Kathy
weeks and counting until my last spring frost
My garden this week
Skippy’s vegetable of the month – Egyptian walking onions!
