We had 1/2 inch of rain overnight. Some wild thunderstorms. I found a green tomato broken off it's branch. Could be an animal but I'm betting on the wind.
Chased some Japanese beetles away this afternoon. 6-8 of them. Just swatted at them with my palms while trying to decide what to do about them. To my surprise, they took off.
Watering due Tuesday.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
July 20, Monday
Removed the insect barrier yesterday. The tomato plants were not thriving beneath it, and it was certainly in my way. I'm checking for Japanese beetles a couple of times per day. So far, found one. No apparent beetle damage. They kill the plant when there are hordes of them chomping down on the leaves.
As for the "not thriving", the newer growth has yellowed and the blossoms died off. In case the insect barrier is not the cause, today I spread 4 powdered egg shells around the 2 plants to provide calcium. It should get rained in tomorrow; if not, I'll water it in. I want happy, healthy plants!
As for the "not thriving", the newer growth has yellowed and the blossoms died off. In case the insect barrier is not the cause, today I spread 4 powdered egg shells around the 2 plants to provide calcium. It should get rained in tomorrow; if not, I'll water it in. I want happy, healthy plants!
Monday, July 13, 2009
July 13, Monday
Looks like I missed a week again. Today was eventful so I could wait no longer. But first:
Over the last week I pulled up all the lettuce and watered as needed. On Saturday I applied a little blossom set spray to the many blossoms that didn't seem to be setting fruit. This spray is a natural plant hormone that encourages the fruit to get going. It also comes with all sorts of poison warnings, which means that in it's concentrated form it must be handled carefully. But it's not supposed to get into the fruit. We'll see. If the fruit was held back by the recent cool weather, it may help.
As for today. I noticed a beetle of some sort on one of my nasturtiums. Took a good look at it and flicked it away. It, or one of it's friends, came right back and landed on my tomato plant. Could these be Japanese beetles, I wondered? Did a google search and found some good Japanese beetle pics. Looked similar, but I couldn't be sure. Back to the garden, but no beetles found. A bit later there was one, on my tomato plant, and definitely a Japanese beetle. I went into action.
Time to install my insect barrier cloth. It's meant to let 95% of light and rain in but keep insects out. Problem is, when I bought it I didn't count on covering tomatoes staked 6 feet high. No matter which way I wrapped it around, I couldn't cover the whole bed. I decided to focus on the tomato plants and hope for the best with my other veg. Still, it ain't pretty. I'll get a picture tomorrow.
Hope it works. Beetles were landing on the cloth as I installed it. Checked the plants pretty carefully, but I'll have to check again tomorrow. These guys can kill entire trees, and they seemed awfully interested in my tomato crop.
Over the last week I pulled up all the lettuce and watered as needed. On Saturday I applied a little blossom set spray to the many blossoms that didn't seem to be setting fruit. This spray is a natural plant hormone that encourages the fruit to get going. It also comes with all sorts of poison warnings, which means that in it's concentrated form it must be handled carefully. But it's not supposed to get into the fruit. We'll see. If the fruit was held back by the recent cool weather, it may help.
As for today. I noticed a beetle of some sort on one of my nasturtiums. Took a good look at it and flicked it away. It, or one of it's friends, came right back and landed on my tomato plant. Could these be Japanese beetles, I wondered? Did a google search and found some good Japanese beetle pics. Looked similar, but I couldn't be sure. Back to the garden, but no beetles found. A bit later there was one, on my tomato plant, and definitely a Japanese beetle. I went into action.
Time to install my insect barrier cloth. It's meant to let 95% of light and rain in but keep insects out. Problem is, when I bought it I didn't count on covering tomatoes staked 6 feet high. No matter which way I wrapped it around, I couldn't cover the whole bed. I decided to focus on the tomato plants and hope for the best with my other veg. Still, it ain't pretty. I'll get a picture tomorrow.
Hope it works. Beetles were landing on the cloth as I installed it. Checked the plants pretty carefully, but I'll have to check again tomorrow. These guys can kill entire trees, and they seemed awfully interested in my tomato crop.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
July 5, Sunday
We actually got about 1/8 inch rain yesterday and a bit less today, so no watering. Picked some green leaf lettuce which, like the red leaf, has become quite bitter. I like some bitter greens in my salads, but not these. Instead of adding a little zest, they add only yuk. I'll probably pull it all out.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
July 4, Saturday
Raining a bit this afternoon. I don't foresee much accumulation. No gardening today.
Friday, July 3, 2009
July 3, Friday
Watered all but the tomatoes today. I'm putting the tomatoes on a 4-day watering schedule, the rest on 2-day. Harvested a red leaf lettuce plant. Looks normal, but tastes bitter. None of the lettuce has grown beyond the baby greens stage. It went in late.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
July 1, Wednesday
Watered heavily today after 2 days of no water on the tomatoes and 1 without water on the entire bed. Found a possible explanation for the black edges on some of my tomato leaves: bacterial canker. If that's what it is, there's no option but to pull out both plants and not plant tomatoes in the bed for 3 years. Since I'm no worse off for waiting and keeping an eye on it (as far as I can tell) I'm going to do just that. There are no spots on the fruit, and only one plant shows damage to the leaves. I'm hoping less watering will clear it all up like a bad dream.
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