What did you do in the garden today?

[Beekissed]

I always thought rhubard was bitter and that is why everyone sugared it to death.

Naw...just VERY tart/sour. Sort of on the lines of a grapefruit for sour levels. And I love grapefruit with salt also...the salt brings out the sweet flavor. If you sugar it, it brings out a bitter note.

 

[Beekissed]

I'm doing something a little differently this year in starting tomato seedlings. After observing the millions of tiny tomato volunteers coming up in the garden at this time of the year and continuing on throughout the summer~some of which I allowed to grow and which never got the blight there like my others did~I concluded that it might be a good thing to germinate these seeds in the great outdoors instead of inside on heated mats.

So, my tomato seed tray has been out in all this chilly weather, frosts, excessive rain, etc. And they are germinating....slowly but surely, a few more sprouts are up each time I look. This week we'll get an extreme warming trend of up into the 90s and they will mostly likely really pop up then.

I'm hoping this will all insure some really strong tomato plants in the end....or I may find that this early tough life will weaken them and keep them from producing as they should. Time will tell and it will be too late by then to buy any tomato plants from nurseries, so it's a gamble or a walk on faith, either way one looks at it.

 

[NH Homesteader]

We decided not to use the spot we put a lot of tomatoes last year, so we're curious to see what pops up if we just leave it alone. Some of our best tomato plants were "planted" by the ducks... They loved tomatoes.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have that book too. Need to look for recipe.

 

[Beekissed]

We moved our mater location also this year. Placed trellises at random and none downwind of another in case we have a problem with blight spores again this year.

All the volunteers and those that grew outside of our tomato section of last year didn't get affected with the blight and were huge, healthy plants. This year I'm planting later to see if I can avoid that rainy, cold then hot spell that seems to produce that type of mold/fungal spore.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am thinking of waiting till next weekend to put mine out . Suppose to be warmer hopefully give them a better start.

I wonder if blight is unavoidable ? lol

 

[Beekissed]

We never had blight in our gardens for over 50 yrs....until last year. Apparently a LOT of people got blight all over the country, and over in the UK, blight is a foregone conclusion...they fight it continually.

I garden in decaying wood chips filled with fungal spores, so it will be interesting to see if I can avoid it this year. I surely hope and pray that I can.

 

[NH Homesteader]

I haven't had it, but my parents have. I hope I continue to have good fortune in that department! Does it help to plant in several areas so if you get it in one place you're less likely to have it everywhere?

 

[Beekissed]

Yes, crop rotation helps....they say once that spore is in a certain soil patch, it's in there to stay unless you treat that soil in some way.

My garden is small enough that I think I'm kind of doomed on that score....I had blight all across the garden last year~taters, beans, cukes, melons, squash, maters, peppers. Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide, as the song goes.

I'm now just trying to wait for dryer, warmer conditions in which to plant my maters and peppers. Will also plant a second set of squash this year later on in the season.

 

[sumi]

I read somewhere years ago they said to place a small piece of rhubarb(?) under the roots of (certain?) plants when you plant them, to protect them from or prevent blight. I could be remembering incorrectly now, it's been awhile since I read this.