From: songbird@anthive.com   
      
   Drew Lawson wrote:   
   > So I went out to the garden to check on just how much of a disaster   
   > it is (and it is), and discovered a double handful of ripe Black   
   > Plum tomatoes.   
   >   
   > I'd expected the tomatoes to be struggling, as I still haven't   
   > cleared the tall weeds that are near them.  But they seem to be   
   > thriving on the neglect.  Two of the cages appear to have leaf spot,   
   > but also have healthy new growth.  So now that I've sprayed for the   
   > fungus they should recover nicely.   
      
     it's been such a strange year this season that i'm glad to see   
   anything on the tomato plants at all.  it will be two weeks or   
   longer yet before we start seeing ripening.  disease pressure   
   here also is starting off.  i won't spray or pull leaves off or   
   mulch, i've tried all those approaches and it makes no sense for   
   me to bother.  the plants all end up looking bad by the end of   
   the season but they've got fruits and we get results enough and   
   that is fine for me.  i don't want to use fungicides in general   
   because all you are really doing is selecting for fungi that   
   can survive being poisoned and that's not a good thing.  the   
   best soil community creatures for dealing with fungi are worms   
   as they are bacteria factories and the bacteria and fungi have   
   been in competition for millions of years.  i vastly prefer to   
   let them keep sorting it out.  :)   
      
     i hope for resistant plants enough instead and in past years   
   we've had some that have done better than other years.  the   
   past two years the plants weren't as resistant as the plants   
   we previously (all are beefsteak varieties).   
      
      
   > Although the plants got in the ground late, this is about normal   
   > for first pickings for me.  In a week or two I may be wondering why   
   > I planted so many.  I will probably dry some and see if I ever make   
   > use of them.  And put up some plain sauce -- I normally do a seasoned   
   > pasta sauce with meat, but have lots on the shelves.   
      
     we had flowers pretty quickly after the plants went in the   
   ground but i removed the first flowers as those tomatoes are   
   usually very hard to pick off the plants as they are so wedged   
   in the branches and the tomato cages.  this is the first time   
   in many years i did that just to see if it makes that much of   
   a difference.  the plants are putting on some fruits now so   
   the bees have been doing their thing.  i see some of the native   
   bees working those flowers, but also some good rains will ding   
   the flowers enough to get them to set fruits.  and in a pinch   
   if it is hot and dry i'll give the plants a good watering as   
   we have to keep some water on the clay soil here or it will   
   start cracking and it puts too much stress on the plants   
   (which leads to BER later).   
      
     it's raining now so it's all working out ok so far.   
      
      
   > I also want to experiment with some small batches of ketchup.  I   
   > bought a bottle months ago and it is so sweet that I can't use it.   
   >   
   >   
   > Nothing yet for the beans or cucumbers, except for returning rogue   
   > vines to the appropriate cages.  Lots of cucumber blossoms, though.   
   > And a couple finger-sized fruit.  (Probably more hiding, but I   
   > didn't look long.)   
      
     cucumbers here were always productive and ended up having   
   more than we could eat or give away.  we decided to not grow   
   any this year at all as we needed the space for other things.   
      
     beans i need to pick and cook some up, but i'm not picking   
   in the rain.  Monday it is.   
      
     the chipmunks got most of my pea seed harvest.  they hadn't   
   bothered these peas at all when i planted them last year so i   
   wasn't thinking i had to keep that close an eye on them and i   
   had a nice crop of seeds drying down on the plants.  had i   
   known i could have picked the pods a few weeks ago and dried   
   them inside where it is safer...  :(  ah, well, learned that   
   lesson...   
      
     i was really disappointed the other day when i went to   
   pick some fresh pods for eating and saw all the damage of the   
   little boogers eating all the seeds out of the pods and   
   leaving all those pods behind.  i salvaged what i could and   
   got enough seeds to dry down all the way and so i can   
   replant for next year but i was really looking forwards to   
   having enough seeds to share with other people.  i really   
   like these peas -- so do the critters.  now that the pea   
   pods and seeds are gone to tempt them i hope they don't   
   switch over to the beans, but i'll have to keep an eye on   
   things and have the air rifle handy.  i've kept the   
   population down to a reasonable size this year so this   
   caught me by surprise.  always sumpthin'...  :)  we've had   
   moles running all over this year under the mulch and   
   gravel and it's hard to trap those when you don't really   
   have any open garden spaces nearby that they've gone into.   
      
      
     songbird   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)