Yippee! Sailor/Farmer is back home again (for about a month) ! Even though he wasn't here to orchestrate a stress-free Mother's Day for me, we managed to have a good time anyways. I took the kids and packed a picnic lunch and we headed to the beach for a couple of hours. Without the husband to tell them how to act on Mother's Day, I had to improvise a bit. When they started acting up and getting whiny I explained to them that they HAVE to act good on Mother's Day and when I was asked "why, Mommy?" I pulled out the big guns and told them that Santa watches them very carefully on this particular day!
While Charlie missed alot while he was gone, he managed to get here in time for the first peas being harvested from the garden. Not a ton, but enough for dinner that night.
No time for rest, though...I am going through my first traumatic gardening event, and it's with my tomatoes! Yes, the heirloom tomatoes I nurtured from seed for the last half of winter, and then GAVE AWAY the surplus that I didn't use...(note to self!). I will give you the horrid details and then let you see for yourself. There are 3 new raised beds this year, filled with delivered compost that hold ALL of my tomatoes. They were planted about a month ago, and seem to be frozen in time. They have not grown, but are not wilted, either. The leaves started becoming a dark green, then yellow mottling that looked alot like sunburn. I thought this was the case for awhile since the day after I planted them was the start of a week of mid 90's temps that lasted about 6 days that caught everyone around here by surprise. They never seemed to recover. The past few days shows mottling, the undersides of the leaves has deep accentuated veining. I am about ready to pull them and take one to the extension office, but am not hopeful, since I have read a ton of tech manuals and disease id's and know about as much as they do at this point! I freaked out over tomato mosaic virus, the worst, but know that it is rare and they were not exposed to tobacco contamination unless the virus was in the compost that was delivered (this virus lives in the soil for 10 years, yikes!) I have also seen some pics that sort of resemble mine that describe a phosphorous or manganese deficiency, but I believe this is unlikely since I have been using seaweed/fish emulsion and top dressing with my own compost and all my other beds are really healthy. Anyways, any ideas??? I know I should probably just rip them out and start over before whatever it is spreads, but it's so hard to do! Here's the evidence...One of the Brandywines:
Close-Up of Brandywine leaf:
The Black Krims and Black Truffles in the next bed are starting to show signs as well:
Pic showing tomato size after being in ground for over a month:
I should mention that the 2 extras I had that I planted in my old beds are doing well and are getting huge, and the ones I gave away to friends are doing great. Is it possible there was something contaminating the fill for the beds I had delivered??? I hate to think of having to remove all the fill and dispose of it. I guess if you garden long enough, something is bound to happen. I may laugh about it one day, BUT NOT TODAY!
I should mention that the 2 extras I had that I planted in my old beds are doing well and are getting huge, and the ones I gave away to friends are doing great. Is it possible there was something contaminating the fill for the beds I had delivered??? I hate to think of having to remove all the fill and dispose of it. I guess if you garden long enough, something is bound to happen. I may laugh about it one day, BUT NOT TODAY!
