The above picture is the sum total of our market garden's Autumn abundance. The yellow cucumbers are great and there are a slew of them. The tomatoes - not so much. In fact that is all that have survived the great bug infestation. Out of 12 plants the harvest is, to say the least, puny!
The reason can be seen in the picture below. See that huge black rot spot? All the tomatoes (save the 6 in the above picture) have it. I can't control it with the only option available to me as an organic gardener - squishing the predators with my fingers. Where is good ole RoundUp when I need it?
Oops, I forgot. It looks like I could get cancer from it. Since I've already had more than my fair share of that disease, thank you very much, I think I'll pass. So back to organic squishing. I just don't see how the pioneers ever got enough produce from organic farming to survive. Perhaps I'll go to Amish country and see how they do it. There has to be a way; I just haven't found it yet.
It's possible that Alessia (granddaughter age 6) has found the way. The picture below is of her 1 tomato plant which is growing (dare I say thriving) in a raised bed in front of the living room. Now she does nothing but come out and pick the ripe cherry tomatoes. She planted the seed and babied it through infancy to teens and now I do the weeding and most of the watering. There has to be something she's done that I'm missing.
The picture of beets comes from the green thumb of my 6 year old granddaughter. Her mother loves beets (or as they say here beetroot) and so Alessia decided to give her a gift. This gift took months of dedicated watering, transplanting, and care but they are quite literally the largest beets I have ever seen. I was worried that they would be 'woody' but they were delicious.
Unfortunately that is the only crop we have. My 14 tomato plants are producing well but some kind of black spot thing is ruining each and every tomato. I have gotten a total of 6 yellow cucumbers from 6 plants. Hardly worth the effort.
I am going to reconsider my whole approach. I think that I might switch to blueberries, asparagus, beet(root) and other such delicacies. The blueberry bushes should do well under bird netting and I don't mind waiting 3 years for asparagus since I can't get anything else to grow anyway.
My rose bushes have managed to stagger through the worst of the drought. They are nothing to write home about (although that is precisely what I am doing right now) but at least I only had 1 fatality. It helped to move the grieving companion bush to the front of the house. Perhaps this Fall I will do the same with the roses that are now in pots.
When I say "I will" I hope you realize that the true digger, mover, transplanter is Dan. I am, however, a crackerjack supervisor. I am brushing up on my "No, no, a little to the left. Are you sure that's deep enough? Perhaps we could pull it out again and try the purple in there."
Dan never says anything but his looks are exceedingly powerful. Oh, and he keeps right on planting where he thinks the bushes should go. Oh well, if I want it done right, I need to pick up a shovel myself.
Til next time.
