Autumn Abundance?

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.