tomato

Mildew attacked the leaves of cucumber plants and zucchini (and other summer squash) plants this summer.  Despite this, we harvested abundant quantities of each, so one could just call this part of our ecological tithe, especially since we weren’t eating the leaves.  Yet there was enough concern that we did try to address the problem.

We altered our watering, so as not to water from above near these plants (as well as the tomatoes, given the threat of tomato blight).  Water on leaves helps spread disease, and it’s water into roots which counts.  We added a soaker hose in the area of these plants as well.

We also tried a couple pesticides.  The first was a dilute mixture of hydrogen peroxide.  The effectiveness was questionable, requiring multiple regular applications to seem to work.  The second was baking soda and soybean oil (vegetable oil) diluted in water:  about a tablespoon of baking soda with a half gallon of water; the oil helps the baking soda stick to the leaves.  A few days later, many of the leaves of the squash plants appeared free of mildew.  However, it is unclear how much of this is new growth unyet touched by mildew, since we cleared away the dead leaves.

We held our first open house on the evening of August 21, 2010, in the early evening before the Friends of Robbins Farm Park Movie Night. About 50 visitors had a cracking time exploring the garden and sampling our cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, edamame, and Steven’s savory marinated swiss chard. A grand night out!

Tomatoes as tall as the sunflowers.

We found another tomato hornworm today- it was incredibly fat and happy.  One of the clues (aside from the stripped tomato branches) was the presence of what turns out to be worm poop on the ground.

 

Also, we had some visitors outside the fence.  We were worried about animals being able to make their way through the fence to munch on the veggies.  These pet bunnies were outside the fence causing the garden no harm.  One of them was even on a leash!

The Yellow Perfection tomatoes have almost all split before harvest. On the other hand, they are prolific.

Taste testing is mixed. A few gardeners think that they are bland and uninteresting. On the other hand, one gardener thinks they are amazingly good. Go figure.

If we plan to use drip irrigation in the future, lay it out before planting, then plant the seedlings next to the emitters. Trying to snake a soaker around full-grown squash and tomato plants was not the best practice.

Consider setting up some kind of small rain barrel or cistern or any kind of bucket-with-a-hose-fitting-on-the-bottom to feed drip lines. We can’t collect much rainwater without a roof and gutters, but we can fill a container from the hose and let it drain out slowly through drip lines to plants that like even moisture, like tomatoes.