Do you see what I see?
How 'bout now?
Another bed looks okay, right?
Here's the backside:
On the other side of the yard we have wind damage
Please hurry, you might be the only tomatoes this year for me...
This is shaping up to be an awful year weather wise, and I guess I knew the effects would show in the garden, but I still had high hopes. Don't we always? Gardening in the south is not for the faint of heart. We have had thunderstorms for close to 14 straight days now, and then comes the heat just to make double sure the insects and diseases are kept warm, wet and happy. UGH!!!! There will be no treatment this year, I've tried them all and have the empty bank account to prove it. Nothing truly works for blight and I could have spent all that money I spent on ridiculous treatments and put it towards finding the nearest farmer selling tomatoes by the bushel. Hang on, I need a scream moment... At least last year the blight came at a normal blight-ish time of year and I was actually able to put away quite a bit before the bitter end.
At least some things do spectacularly well here...the honeybees, bumbles and hummingbirds are going wild for the Butterfly Weed, Sage and Verbena that are in full bloom.
Maybe I'll take next year off to solarize the beds and just do beekeeping...
Yes, you heard right... beekeeping, yay! Lochlann is the newest member of the 4-H Jr. Beekeepers Club! His bee suit is on the way and he will be working in the 4-H Bee Yard progressing towards earning his own hive. Of course we will all be joining the Beekeeper's Association and getting in on the fun. I tried to end on a good note, did it work or are you scrolling back up to the top and getting sick to your stomach? :) Chin up, gardeners... it can't be this bad everywhere, right?
Oh surprise, surprise... it's thundering again.
That's exciting about beekeeping! One day, I swear I'll have a yard and a hive or two.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe even a goat.
In the meantime, I think blight will be bad this year. It never really got cold over the winter--people have been saying that more blight will have survived over winter than usual years. I'm hoping for the best--but I have other plants to take the tomatoes' place if they're blighted!
Kenneth, a goat! Yes, please! :) I love, love goats. Here too, I think beans will take the place of the tomatoes, we'll probably suffer some type of permanent damage from eating too many string beans LOL!
ReplyDeleteGod, your weather stinks! I'm sorry about the Blight. That is awful early. But what IS going right this year anyway!!! Beekeeping? Nice. Our hives were delivered last week. I'm in Bee Heaven!
ReplyDeleteHope you have a good weekend.
Sue, congrats on your bees! This is going to be an interesting year for sure...
DeleteAm I the only one who noticed the snake in the top picture before anything else? lol I see the rubber ones in the other pictures--are those strategically placed or little boy placed? :)
ReplyDeleteThis is my first year with tomatoes and I have those yellow leaves, too.... I was really hoping it wasn't blight. I have about 30 baby tomatoes on the vines but I am guessing my tomato harvesting days are numbered now. :/
Megan, LOL! Yep, rubber snakes all over the place, they scared the birds off maybe 4 years ago, now they just laugh at me. Sorry that you are having blight issues too, it looks like it's going to be a bad year for that but at least you will be in good company and we will all support you in the emotional trauma that will result :)
DeleteOh no Erin, not again... I remember how valiantly you battled last year and I hope for your sake you'll get a decent tomato harvest.
ReplyDeleteLochlann is awesome! Wish my kids would want to do something like that...
Anke, yes, I fought the good fight last year. At least it didn't show up last year until there were fruit maturing on the vine, this year it's all blossoms still :(
DeleteOh my, not again! If I were you I would definitely take a year off from growing tomatoes in those beds. Who know, maybe you will move before then!
ReplyDeleteBeekeeping would be great!
Robin, there's got to be a support group somewhere for this LOL!
DeleteI can be that bad everywhere. I have early blight and we don't usually get it here as our weather is very dry and scorching hot. Not sure how it managed to hit my garden. I have a terrible time with beans also, the leaves always turn crunchy and die, yard long beans did good last year though. I am just hoping that the few measly tomatoes on the vine will ripen before the plants die. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
ReplyDeletePeggi, sorry to hear you are seeing signs of it too, hopefully yours might turn out to be a magnesium issue or something treatable, since it's dry there maybe there is still hope that its not the dreaded blight. I hope we at least get a few fresh ones for salads or hamburgers!
DeleteHow do you know the difference?
DeleteOh, how I WISH we had rain. Not a stinking millimeter of it the entire month of May, my lawn is brown & crunches when you walk on it & I'm having to water the gardens EVERY stinking day.....and it's not even June yet!
ReplyDeleteAh, the trials and tribulations of gardening.
Kudos on the new beekeeper! :)
CR can you believe I haven't watered even once this year? Usually I'm out there every morning before I get the kids up for school - its been drenched every evening and as I type here come the daily thunderclouds again... I wish I could share it with you!
DeleteAlmost makes me think there are worse things than not being able to grow a ripe tomato because I'm too far north. Oh, drat, Erin. I'm so sorry you got socked with the blight again this year. It's so, so frustrating when you work so hard on your garden and then an insect or animal or blight takes it out.
ReplyDeleteBut you WILL have a much easier time than we do raising bees and getting honey. They will love your heat and glorious flowers. You may have trouble with vegetables, but you sure can grow some gorgeous flowers!
Mama Pea, maybe I'll start squinting at all the red bell peppers and PRETENDING they are tomatoes LOL! You know what's crazy? People are really successful wintering over banana trees and Bird of Paradise here now, a few years ago they only went into big containers and tossed in the fall. Maybe I should be thinking Hawaii garden... :)
DeleteACK! It's still only May! I'm worried about my tomatoes this year as well. In the rotation, they are back in the part of the garden where we had late blight the first year we were here. But my secret weapon this year is landscaping fabric around them to try to eliminate soil splash. Of course, if we don't get some rain soon it won't matter.
ReplyDeleteAnd bees- how exciting. They are still on my short list- maybe next year.
Judy
Judy, that fabric is the only think I think might have helped a little, so I hope it works for you. Not sure "when" the bees will come, but eventually LOL.. they will be a split from one of the assoc. hives.
DeleteI hope the blight doesn't get worse. A pox on your blight!! It may be time to forget about tomatoes for a few years and grow something else. Everything else you grow looks fantastic even the flowers.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't even planted tomatoes yet, soon though.
If we didn't have so many bears I'd try bees too. Can't wait to hear all about your bee keeping.
Sparkless, I can't imagine my garden without tomatoes, but honestly that's the one crop that puts a damper on any vacation or weekend away plans in the summer so there will be a bright side LOL
DeleteWhen I lived in Tennessee, I wore a mosquito suit to garden. Didn't help; I just got bitten through it. In Virginia, I did what I could but couldn't stand the weather. I don't know how anyone grows anything organically in the South -- it seems as though everything is against you. Hang in there. Beekeeping with kids sounds fun. Let me know how they handle moving the boxes with kids. Those suckers are heavy.
ReplyDeleteWish we could take some of your rain.
Stefaneener, I'm thinking right now about all the insects I've probably eaten over the years hahahaha!
DeleteOK ,listen up everyone -sending good karma to Erin
ReplyDeletes tomatoes,here is to the flight of the blight---here here---I tried? bee-keeping ,wow ,I just wonder what this kid will be doing when he's 16?very thought provoking but there are to many variables,haha
Judy, I often wonder what Loch will become too LOL...watch him go get a great education and become a beach bum.... :)
DeleteI can't wait to see bee posts!
ReplyDeleteBuzz Buzz!
DeleteWahoo for beekeeping! It sure has been an odd year for weather, hasn't it? Hang in there. The storms have to stop eventually...right? Or at least that's what you have to keep repeating...
ReplyDeleteMama Tea, the only thing that is keeping me from stressing out too badly is that I know it's not me, but that Mother Nature is having a bad year. I think we'll all be dealing with something, so we will all have to stay tuned to see what freaky events will occur with all our blogger friends! At least we're in good company :)
DeleteThis weather is messing things up in Northern Indiana too. We started WAY early this year, in early March, with the cold weather things outdoors, and the cabbages have started curling into heads already, collards almost ready to eat, and now they're all dead from verticillium wilt. Too much heat, too soon. Pulled those all, and some of the kale, showing the signs. Hopefully they'll make it. The new bees are doing well though. Keeping the fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteTrailshome, oh drat! I had that wilt the 2nd year I gardened here and I was in tears! Hope everything goes well this summer for you!
DeleteGardeners just can't win, weather-wise. We're having our usual bout of late May cold and wet here, meanwhile you're having crazy heat... It's either too hot or too cold, or too wet or too dry. It's just not fair, is it? ;)
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking that you might have better luck next year if you tried out some blight resistant varieties, and found this webpage. It's kind of a pain to scroll through but it has good info.
ReplyDeletehttp://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/Tables/TomatoTable.html
AnywhereEden, that's the laugh in all of this, after last year - I did some Flora-Dade blight resistant tomatoes this year LOL! So much for that, my heirlooms look better but that isn't saying much :)
DeleteHopefully things will get better. I love seeing your garden. It looks great!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deletethanks mel!
ReplyDeleteWell with any luck, you can sell enough honey to buy yourself some tomatoes! You will enjoy beekeeping, I am certain of it! Can't wait to hear all about it from your kids perspective! Just don't let them lick the hive, hold them back!
ReplyDeleteAPG, Finn is already counting his honey jars LOL, I had to break it to him that it will be awhile after Loch gets his hive for that :)
DeleteHoly cow, already?! That is just crazy.
ReplyDeleteThe weather everywhere seems to be taking its toll on gardens. Having only had a few frosts over the winter, and 80 degree weather in March, we are infested with bugs. With forecasts of ~100 degrees today and tomorrow, I think I am just going to be shaking my head at all the poor spring crops I tried to grow.
Prairie Cat, I just know the squash bugs will be here any day now, it's been 90 the past 3 days... ugh!
DeleteThe heartbreak of early blight... so awful that it's struck again! If you grow tomatoes in containers, do they still manage to become infected by spores that have overwintered in your yard? Just curious.
ReplyDeleteagwh, I have it in my containers too, drat!
Deletewatch out, the bees are addicting! We're already hoping for our 2nd hive, and I know I'm in it for life...
ReplyDeletealso, a question from a tomato-newbie... when I see yellow leaves, I think "too much water" which has certainly been the case lately. How do I tell the difference between that and blight?
ReplyDeleteLanette, good question! It's really the process of elimination and good ol' prior experience that will tell you. Of course my hopes tended towards them needing water or a magnesium deficiency that could be fixed with some simple Epsom salts, but...
Delete1. I haven't had to water the garden yet this year due to all the moisture we have had
2. The magnesium thing doesn't produce so many brown spots with the yellow
3. Started at the bottom and traveling upward (classic signs)
4. "Concentric Rings" around the brown spots (although not always)
5. Here's the big one... I had blight last year, and it stays in the soil for a few years. There's no way I can dig and dispose of all that soil so I'm just going to have to quit tomatoes and try to solarize the beds and see if that works.
See, it's about as clear as mud LOL, but every year of insects, disease and general mayhem out there I get better at identifying things. So far the worst things I've battled have been Early Blight, Fusarium Wilt and those darn Squash Vine Borers... wonder what new and exciting thing 2012 has in store for me LOL?!
Oh, what a shame! There is nothing so frustrating than having all your hard work go to waste. The flowers are beautiful, though, and HURRAY for beekeeping! I am replacing my hive shortly and, fingers/toes crossed, if they make it through the winter, I will add another next spring. I do hope you get some tomatoes ahead of the blight!
ReplyDeleteSusan, I hope your hives do well this winter, I love reading and seeing photos of others' hives!
DeleteYep, got my first zucchini at the same time as seeing the first spots of mold? fungus? on the leaves. Great. Plus, like you, we are having more heat and humidity, and now soaking rain from Beryl. Doesn't look good..... Stevie@ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com
ReplyDelete