Gardening H-E-double toothpick

[Meowmie]

As the season is winding down, I have found this to be the very worst season ever. And I had such high hopes to fill my pantry and freezer!

Constant weather changes, night that get too cold for warm weather crops, and days that get to hot for cool weather crops, and my husband mowing down my watermelon, pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber and squash plants while cutting the grass, is giving us barely enough to have with our meals.

My one hope is the tomatoes and carrots. I planted SOME of my tomatoes in a different spot this year, and bam- blight! This is the first time I've had to deal with it. The tomatoes are fine until they start to turn on the vine, then the blight hits. So... I have a counter full of small, green tomatoes. A few are turning inside now, and are quite usable, the rest are being eaten as fried green tomatoes. Luckily the tomatoes that I grew in a spot I've been using for years are doing great.

I hope next year is better. I've been frequenting the farmers market and most of them have had as bad a year as I have. The ones that are doing well are using covers for the vegies even when it's not freezing and are worn out from all the work, and say another season like this and they will find another line of work. The CSA I used to belong to and still get chickens from has quite a few angry customers. The long term customers understand we are at the mercy of the weather, but newer customers are raising a stink. Glad I'm not in her shoes!

 

[ChanellG]

Oh, my gosh! What did you do when you saw what your husband did? I think I would have lost it! All that work just wiped out in an instant! My biggest issue this year has been dealing with cutworms, but the heat has been a challenge as well. Some of the plants have thrived amazingly well and some have just shriveled up and died.

 

[zigs]

That's bad news

Make sure you don't let any parts of the tomatoes or potatoes if you have them, overwinter. Burn the blighted plants and spray next years crop with Bordeaux mixture Meowmie. It doesn't soak into the plants and you just wash the tomatoes before use.

Can't help with cutworms Chanell, don't have them over here

 

[claudine]

I'm very sorry to hear that, Meowmie How did your husband manage to mow down your watermelon and pumpkin? They're such big vegetables!
It hasn't been the best season for me either, because I lost a few miniature roses
Let's hope things will be better next year!

 

[Meowmie]

Oh, my gosh! What did you do when you saw what your husband did? I think I would have lost it! All that work just wiped out in an instant! My biggest issue this year has been dealing with cutworms, but the heat has been a challenge as well. Some of the plants have thrived amazingly well and some have just shriveled up and died.

I grow all my seedlings in paper pots, and when I transplant them I leave them in the pot, with about 1/4" of the pot sticking above the ground. It does a good job stopping the cutworms. Doesn't do anything about stopping lawn mowers, though.

He's lucky that in all other areas he is a wonderful husband. The thing that gets me most is he did the same thing last year. They grow outside my brick edged garden. This year I had him help me prepare the bed so he'd remember.. it didn't work.

That's bad news

Make sure you don't let any parts of the tomatoes or potatoes if you have them, overwinter. Burn the blighted plants and spray next years crop with Bordeaux mixture Meowmie. It doesn't soak into the plants and you just wash the tomatoes before use.

Can't help with cutworms Chanell, don't have them over here

Thanks I'll get the bordeaux. we are already digging up the plants. not sure how to get rid of them. Can't burn here, and have no grill. We aren't allowed to put green material in the garbage. Which leaves us with one option. One I just can't bring myself to do. Put it in the community compost. Too many regulations!!!!

 

[Meowmie]

I'm very sorry to hear that, Meowmie How did your husband manage to mow down your watermelon and pumpkin? They're such big vegetables!
It hasn't been the best season for me either, because I lost a few miniature roses
Let's hope things will be better next year!

He mowed them down before there was fruit. Last year he did get one plant with the weed whacker, and sliced open a 4" watermelon... or was it a pumpkin? I need a proper garden, fenced in. With a lock. And only ONE key.

 

[Trellum]

Woah, so sorry to hear that! Can't imagine how angry you felt when your husband did that, the kind of hanger that mutes you because you just feel so helpless and angry at the same time!

 

[Meowmie]

Actually, I laughed. I have a very poor memory and he is always teasing me about it. It gave me lots of ammunition for when he teases me now. Judging by how my other melons he didn't get are doing, it's unlikely we would have gotten anything out of them anyway. Very short mixed up growing season this year.

 

[zigs]

Thanks I'll get the bordeaux. we are already digging up the plants. not sure how to get rid of them. Can't burn here, and have no grill. We aren't allowed to put green material in the garbage. Which leaves us with one option. One I just can't bring myself to do. Put it in the community compost. Too many regulations!!!!

That is a problem, potato blight is such a threat to commercial crops that i'm sure they wouldn't want it to be spread by the community compost. Might be worth giving the council a ring and ask them what to do.

 

[headfullofbees]

May I suggest you cordon off the area next year with black and yellow tape?

Sorry Meowmie.

On another note, imagine farmers complaining about the weather?

 

[Meowmie]

LOL my husband said I sounded like a farmer the other day,
I have so little space to garden, is there anything you think I could plant there next year?

Called town hall. If we put the tomato plants in the garbage, we'll be fined. can't cook it away on the grill we don't have one. Only option we have is to put it in the town compost. I don't think the people in charge of that have any idea what it will mean for other gardeners. I"m glad I never got any dirt from there.

Oh shoot... We had some dips in the yard from where a tree was taken out, and my husband filled them in and I'm thinking he did it with stuff from the town compost!!!!

I need a garden with a fence and a lock and he won't get a key

 

[Meowmie]

Ok been doing some research and it's not blight. It's BER I just didn't recognize it because it's mostly internal not external. I had no idea that there was such a thing as internal BER. The leaf damage isn't bad enough to be blight, after looking at pictures. Guess I can breathe a sigh of relief. Glad only one variety is affected.

 

[ACSAPA]

Actually, I laughed. I have a very poor memory and he is always teasing me about it. It gave me lots of ammunition for when he teases me now. Judging by how my other melons he didn't get are doing, it's unlikely we would have gotten anything out of them anyway. Very short mixed up growing season this year.

Can you surround the areas of seedlings with those cheap white plastic garden borders that look like tiny picket fences and just tell him not to mow in those areas?

 

[Meowmie]

The area is bordered on one side by a raised bed and the other side with sunchokes. Next spring I'm making "KEEP CHUCK OFF THE GRASS" signs for the 2 ends.

He claims if he didn't have to be my memory for me he could use his to remember what he needs to remember.

Meanwhile I make him go into the grocery store to lift the watermelons into the cart.

 

[zigs]

That's a relief Meow

Local paper might want to pick up on the story about the town hall though. I can see the headline,

Town Council policy spreads plant diseases