24 July 2013

Bored

It feels like my garden has suffered from every disease and pest known to gardening. I spent the morning removing leaves that have powdery mildew. I couldn't figure out why some plants had it and others didn't. Then I discovered that my squash and pumpkins are infested with borers. The ones with the borers were the ones with powdery mildew. So even though I should have spent the afternoon working on my boat, I spent it operating. I sliced open the infected plants, pulled out the borers and sterilized the incisions. I also harvested the immature spaghetti squash and pumpkins and one summer squash. Time will tell if the plants recover and I get any more.




01 July 2013

Megabloom

Megablooms are the conjoined twins of the tomato world. I have them on at least seven of my plants. No one seems to know why they happen. But I found another blogger who suddenly had a glut of them after rarely having any before. Maybe it was the early disease and malnutrition that my plants encountered. This image is of my biggest megabloom, on a Brandywine Pink Tomato. I think it was a fusion of at least five blooms.
Unfortunately, "too-big-to-fail" isn't a law in the realm of the tomato. A week later, the bloom is shutting down -- without having set fruit. I think that the bloom was just too crowded and gnarled for the pollination to happen.

I think my squash might be gay. All the flowers are male. I'm kind of proud of them. I hope it's not just a phase.
The peas, however, are breeding like rabbits.
The beans have gotten to the top of the tower. And they're blooming. They look gay. But that's probably just because I planted pink ones. They're bound to disappoint me.
The Uchuva is setting fruit, too.
As are my tomatoes. This variety is supposed to be ripe by the 4th of July. Lies!
My kale is getting a little long-in-the-tooth. They look more like Palm Trees.





Rabbits continue to confound my fencing. I will have to get yet another layer of chicken wire very soon. Every day one has gotten into the garden. It's really traumatic for them becuase I chase them around, and they can't find their hole to get out. The run the full length of the garden and leap, hurling themselves against the fence and bouncing back in. They seem determined to eat one particular cauliflower. I've got to rabbit proof better before they get eyes for my strawberry plants.