Septoria

from Wikipedia: Septoria: Ascomycete pycnidia-producing fungi that causes numerous leaf spot diseases on field crops, forages and many vegetables, and is responsible for yield losses.

from the Cornell department of plant pathology: Following spread, spores may germinate within 48 hr under moist conditions and favorable temperatures. Leaf spots can appear within 5 days.

Last evening, as I loaded up a tray with the remaining potted tomato seedlings, I noticed spots on them. I did a check of the planted tomatoes. The one hanging from the porch had more spots, and the ones in the ground had fewer. But all had some. It was classic Septoria.

The plants were stressed from transplant and had been root-bound in their peat pots. Then they were alternately watered and rained on, allowing dirt to splash their leaves and then several days of overcast skies prevented the leaves from drying well.

The only treatment is amputation. The seedlings still unplanted fared worst. They had been the smallest, weakest plants anyway. That's why they were still unplanted.

But even some of the plants in my beds look rather poodled.

A couple of the smaller seedlings were totally compromised and had to be taken out.

I spent the rest of the day in purchasing some straw and weaving it around the tomatoes (and other plants). This stops the rain from splashing dirt (and fungal spores) up onto the leaves. I had always planned on doing this. The rain coming right after transplanting was unfortunate.

Overview

 I still have a few things to build -- mainly some supports for the uchuva so that they don't get too rangy. But this photo gives a sense of the garden. The raised beds with the PVC hoops are four by eight feet. And the footprint of the whole garden is roughly twenty-six by twenty-eight feet. Rabbit fencing surrounds the garden to a height of thirty-eight to forty inches and goes below ground four to six inches. Deer netting tops off the fence up to six feet (not enough to stop a determined deer, but I hope that there's enough other vegetation to make the jump seem not worthwhile) and covers the rabbit fence as well, descending six to eight inches below the ground plus a few inches out. The gate is backed by hardware cloth, and a door-sill has stapled to it hardware cloth that extends ten inches below the ground.

Today, I planted cantaloupe and squash seeds -- and built some vertical supports out of bamboo on the narrowest raised bed, and then I planted it with a few tomatoes, jalepeños, and Thai eggplant. I already had a bunch of garlic growing there.

The supports that I built today are a little taller than those that I built inside the cold-frames a few days ago. But the cold frames are super strong and, well, cooler.

The pictured bed probably only needs the vertical support on one side for a few tomatoes, but the symmetry was irresistible. Most of the cabbages, broccoli and kale will probably come out in another month, giving the tomatoes (and a few peppers) room to breathe.
Here's an habenero, dwarfed by some kale:

The broccoli is starting to form heads:

In the next bed, the cabbage is really loving the cool spring:

There are small fruiting trees and shrubs in the garden, too. Eventually, there will be fewer beds when they get big. But now they're pretty small. There are two beach plums that are in bloom right now:

And there is a persimmon as well as a paw-paw:

And blueberries:

I'm a little worried that I planted to corn too early. Only four kernels have shown themselves:

But the peas and beans are doing great and the artichoke seems to be tolerating the cold okay:

Time will tell how the plants do that I squeezed in between the wood-chips and the fence. I had dug a trench so that the fence could extend below ground, and I figured that some roots could only help reinforce the border. The worst that happens is that I pull them out. I planted a couple of grapes, a bunch of raspberries, and five or so tiny tomato seedlings that probably would have been trashed (I planted a ton of tomato seeds expecting that some wouldn't grow -- but they all did).

There are parts of the border that were more intentional. A narrow bed by the gate has bell peppers, Mexican marigold, and nasturtium.

And the wide bed on the west side of the garden has the uchuva, squash, peppers, cauliflower. Here's a picture of one of the simple vertical supports that I'm making for the uchuva.

Seeing the overview photograph and knowing the dimensions doesn't really help one understand the garden. There's a lot going on.

First Harvest

I got my first harvest from the garden today: some kale and some romaine lettuce.

The leaves chopped up nicely into a salad. It's kind of amazing how sweet kale can be when it's only been picked ten minutes before it's in one's mouth.