Debit card, check! Big Girl panties, check! Ch-Chnk - hear the shotgun being cocked?
Game ON!
By 7:30 am I was on my way to my favorite little nursery, favorite because they give a discount to Master Gardeners and carry lots of organic weapons and seedlings. Sadly, it was not to be, the seedlings all looked like they had blight, LOL I told you I'm seeing it everywhere now!
Peel outta there, going to check the big bad box store... nothing interesting there in the way of tomatoes, but I did get these...
2 flats of petunias and marigolds for $1.75 per flat! Why? I guess because they didn't have any flowers on them and needed to be deadheaded, haha, they're mine now!
Next stop, the local Disneyland of nurseries...
Repeat after me: stay focused!
Focus....
oh look, Sweet Potatoes - FOCUS!
Don't look into the light!
What the heck is THIS? For real? $299.00????? More power to them, I guess.
Finally, I've arrived.
No more screwing around with $12 ready to spray bottles that won't even treat one bed, I spent $25 for the concentrate and $7 for the spray bottle. I'll be dousing the Brandywines liberally to try and save them, since they showed no signs of blight until late last night.
I also cleaned them out of the last Juliet tomatoes. I hear they are one of the most Early Blight resistant 'maters out there, if there is such a thing. Unfortunately it thunderstormed last night and this morning and is expected to be in the 90's, the worst thing for spreading blight, but I'll be out there this evening after dinner with bells on! I'm not going down without a fight.... "$64 Dollar Tomato", anyone? LOL I might need to re-read that book, I believe I may have upped that by a few dollars :)
Wow, I really did have to focus. That place was pretty amazing.....no tomatoes though huh? Is the blight everywhere in your area then?
ReplyDeleteFight! Fight!!!!!! Good luck girl, you are suer hero.
ReplyDeleteI knew you'd rally! Great job staying focused, by the way!
ReplyDeleteOh, I have SO MUCH to learn. I don't know why I find gardening books so boring, but I've finally started reading some of them. Hopefully pretty soon if I get blight on my tomatoes, or tomato mosaic, or any of the other crazy stuff that happens, I'll at least be able to say, "My tomatoes have _____." instead of "What in the world is wrong with these?".
I find myself hovering around my garden like an anxious parent! I mean, after all that work and time, I am with you and not taking these blights/pestilences lying down!
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Erin!
ReplyDeleteJuliet has a lot of fans, but I'm not one of them. They're too small, so unless I'm tossing them whole into the pot I don't like to fool with them. I must say, though they are the only tomato I've ever had volunteer and fruit beautifully. If I only planted one Juliet, and let it volunteer the following year, I'd never have to plant another tomato ever again!
Actually if I had a tomato straining thingy, I'd love the Juliets....they are the most prolific I've ever grown.
sick-em!!!
ReplyDeleteKelly, I did find some tomatoes, but not there - all they had were a lot of varieties "not known for blight resistance"!
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Nartaya, I can't wait for the sun to go down a little, then the fight is on!
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Patty, I think experience is the best teacher, I thought I had blight before but it was just sunburn/wind damage - when you see it, you'll KNOW something isn't right, it moves too fast and spreads after you've trimmed it. You won't have to worry about much of it where you are, as your winter weather will kill the spores, down here it can live in the soil for many years.
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Susan, it was definitely a wake-up call for me to be more vigilant!
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Gran, thanks for the heads up on the Juliet, now I'll know more what to expect. I read that they can be a large cherry type suitable for canning, hopefully they will be on the large side LOL. I do have a tomato strainer-thingy so I'm sure that will be a help!
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Cindy, LOL!
ReplyDeleteAtta girl! I look forward to seeing you win the war! If anybody can do it, you can.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that blight doesn't stand a chance. I'm cheering for you!
ReplyDeleteGood luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteNow that's what I call will power. I react the same why when I enter a nice nursery...it's like crack for gardeners.
ReplyDeleteForgot....good luck with the tomatoes!!!!!!!!! You're up against a formidable enemy!
ReplyDeleteGood luck! Kick some tomato blight A$$
ReplyDeleteMama Pea, thanks for the vote of confidence, although it might be misplaced LOL... the thought did occur to me while spraying fungicide last night to give up and just spray the whole yard and every variety of veggie via aircraft...I resisted though :) It's just going to be one of those years where being organic is going to be difficult but not impossible if I'm willing to shell out $$, not that it isn't all the time!
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Sparkess & Sue, I need all I can get!
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Thomas, my bank balance helped keep me on track LOL
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Ribbit, it's just awful disappointing out there, but I refuse to be defeated!
Funny how it used to be candy stores that did that to us! I don't think I would have done as well as you.
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