Garden thread

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Replies

  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    So as I mentioned, I'm in zone 3 so my veggie bed is just sprouting. I have kale. I have carrots. I have beans. I have one thing that's definitely a beet and a whole bunch of "eehh... you could potentially be a beet... I'm gonna weed around you for a bit and see." And I have a feeling I need to re-plant my Swiss chard 😕

    Haha I can so relate to your comment about 'weed around you for a bit and see'. My elderly neighbor's dd helped him plant his garden this year, then left for a month+. Well, a lot can grow in a month besides veggies. :/ I'm hoeing all the grass out(and there is a ton!), scrutinizing everything else that's left and not finding a whole lot. :(

    My own onions aren't doing very well and I'm not sure why. :( Everything else seems to be coming along okay. My strawberries should start turning from green to red soon, can't wait!
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    Well dang, Just checked my garden and a couple of my tomato plants have what I suspect might be blight on the leaves. :(
    Anyone have this issue and what can I do besides rip out all my tomatoes? Plus it affects potatoes too, like sweet potatoes?
    I am so bummed. I read to try a baking soda/oil/water solution so I'll make up some of that and try it. But any other ideas?
    It's just a couple leaves on the bottom of a couple plants.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    Well dang, Just checked my garden and a couple of my tomato plants have what I suspect might be blight on the leaves. :(
    Anyone have this issue and what can I do besides rip out all my tomatoes? Plus it affects potatoes too, like sweet potatoes?
    I am so bummed. I read to try a baking soda/oil/water solution so I'll make up some of that and try it. But any other ideas?
    It's just a couple leaves on the bottom of a couple plants.

    First, are you sure it's blight?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA4PuEKaQpY
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,843 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    Grazing.

    How the heck do I guess about that?

    One of my favorite things as the harvest starts is standing in my garden and picking fruit or whatever and just eating it. It never makes it inside. I just went out and ate maybe a handful of sugar snap peas, a third of a pint of blueberries, and maybe almost a pint of raspberries. So tasty..... but it would take away the fun if I picked them, brought them in, weighed them, and THEN ate them. I love the grazing part.

    Oh well. I shouldn't complain. Lots of good phytochemicals. And tasty.

    My peas are just starting to pop. I brought the scale out there this evening. Our patio is right near the garden so that works.

    I have eaten so many unlogged strawberries the past week though...
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,843 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    Well dang, Just checked my garden and a couple of my tomato plants have what I suspect might be blight on the leaves. :(
    Anyone have this issue and what can I do besides rip out all my tomatoes? Plus it affects potatoes too, like sweet potatoes?
    I am so bummed. I read to try a baking soda/oil/water solution so I'll make up some of that and try it. But any other ideas?
    It's just a couple leaves on the bottom of a couple plants.

    Please post a picture.

    I've often had sickly looking leaves at the bottom of the plants which was never a big deal.
  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 451 Member
    @kshama2001 it's not that bad growing here, you just have to know what plants will do well. Of course I've lived here my whole life, so it's what I'm used to. I don't have a ton of veggies in the ground because my bed is only 6' x 6' though.

    For perennials I have some raspberries that are doing amazing this year, and I just put in strawberries this spring so I won't get a crop from them until at least next year. They're struggling, but it's because my sister who I got them from over-watered and very nearly killed them. I lost one, but the others seem to be hanging on so far. No perennial veggies though.

    My Swiss chard has made an appearance, and I now have two things that are definitely beets. Waiting for the others I'm weeding around to show me definitively what they are. I had a large gap in my row of beans so I re-planted that section yesterday, and the rest of the bed is doing well. Each of the pot veggies has also produced at least one flower so I should get at least a bit from them, too. It's been a few years since I've had more than the raspberries, so I'm just so excited that everything seems to be doing so well!
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    Well dang, Just checked my garden and a couple of my tomato plants have what I suspect might be blight on the leaves. :(
    Anyone have this issue and what can I do besides rip out all my tomatoes? Plus it affects potatoes too, like sweet potatoes?
    I am so bummed. I read to try a baking soda/oil/water solution so I'll make up some of that and try it. But any other ideas?
    It's just a couple leaves on the bottom of a couple plants.

    First, are you sure it's blight?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA4PuEKaQpY

    From all the pictures I searched through I couldn't find any that resembled it exactly but came darn close. :( Teeny little white holes all over the affected leaves and I looked again(with my glasses this time) and there are more than a few leaves involved. :/ I always am second guessing myself on everything so IDK 100%.

    I'm terrible about posting pictures but will see if I can figure it out later.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,935 Member
    edited June 2021
    @ReenieHJ

    Flea beetles.

    Edit to add: See if you can increase air circulation around the plants and try to keep the leaves dry.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    Well dang, Just checked my garden and a couple of my tomato plants have what I suspect might be blight on the leaves. :(
    Anyone have this issue and what can I do besides rip out all my tomatoes? Plus it affects potatoes too, like sweet potatoes?
    I am so bummed. I read to try a baking soda/oil/water solution so I'll make up some of that and try it. But any other ideas?
    It's just a couple leaves on the bottom of a couple plants.

    First, are you sure it's blight?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA4PuEKaQpY

    From all the pictures I searched through I couldn't find any that resembled it exactly but came darn close. :( Teeny little white holes all over the affected leaves and I looked again(with my glasses this time) and there are more than a few leaves involved. :/ I always am second guessing myself on everything so IDK 100%.

    I'm terrible about posting pictures but will see if I can figure it out later.

    If it's blight, or some other similar thing (fungal, not bugs, some other nonfungal disease, or nutrient deficiency) then a copper spray solution may help a little. Technically, last I knew anyway, these were considered "organic" for official organic produce purposes. You buy a concentrate, spray the plant with a solution of it (being especially sure to get undersides of leaves, entire stem).

    I have terrible blight in the soil here, pretty much gave up on tomatoes even before getting too lazy to have a veggie garden anymore, but using copper spray per directions did stave off plant death for a while, I think, when I used it.

    Oddly enough, blight didn't seem to destroy the other nightshades that I grew (tomatillos, eggplant, etc.).
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    Well dang, Just checked my garden and a couple of my tomato plants have what I suspect might be blight on the leaves. :(
    Anyone have this issue and what can I do besides rip out all my tomatoes? Plus it affects potatoes too, like sweet potatoes?
    I am so bummed. I read to try a baking soda/oil/water solution so I'll make up some of that and try it. But any other ideas?
    It's just a couple leaves on the bottom of a couple plants.

    First, are you sure it's blight?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA4PuEKaQpY

    From all the pictures I searched through I couldn't find any that resembled it exactly but came darn close. :( Teeny little white holes all over the affected leaves and I looked again(with my glasses this time) and there are more than a few leaves involved. :/ I always am second guessing myself on everything so IDK 100%.

    I'm terrible about posting pictures but will see if I can figure it out later.

    If it's blight, or some other similar thing (fungal, not bugs, some other nonfungal disease, or nutrient deficiency) then a copper spray solution may help a little. Technically, last I knew anyway, these were considered "organic" for official organic produce purposes. You buy a concentrate, spray the plant with a solution of it (being especially sure to get undersides of leaves, entire stem).

    I have terrible blight in the soil here, pretty much gave up on tomatoes even before getting too lazy to have a veggie garden anymore, but using copper spray per directions did stave off plant death for a while, I think, when I used it.

    Oddly enough, blight didn't seem to destroy the other nightshades that I grew (tomatillos, eggplant, etc.).

    Flea beetles? Never heard of such a thing. :( Will have to do a search. Thanks for the info about the copper spray.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,935 Member
    Flea beetles are pretty common where I am. I'm pretty sure that's what is eating MY tomatoes. Well, above ground. Below ground, the mole population seems to be growing, and they are tunneling under so many things.
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    I looked up flea beetles and if it was that, wouldn't I see the beetles on the leaves?
    I'm beginning to think it might have something to do with the way I've been watering my garden; I use a hose but will try using watering jugs instead so as not to water all the leaves. I'll take all the affected leaves off tomorrow; I did make up a baking soda solution but it's supposed to rain tonight so will wait and use it tomorrow night instead.
    Even after all the pictures I've seen and articles I've read it still doesn't fit anything 100%. :/ It really doesn't look like blight at all, maybe a fungal infection of some kind or the beetles so I'll keep an eye out for nasty critters. I had such great luck with tomatoes last summer so this is a bit disheartening. Oh well.....
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 6,476 Member
    I just came home from the food bank farm, it's right around the corner so the same things are doing well. We harvested sungold tomatoes, fennel, turnips, and green garlic and weeded the onions. Here and at home the lettuce is bolting. I pinch my blossoms off tomatoes until they're a few feet high so I'm just starting to get my first one now though I've been bringing in zucchini for a few weeks then harvesting a lot of herbs. My snap peas are dust, we're in the 100s this week in Sacramento so it's going to be a lot of watering and staying inside when possible.
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
    Something got my broccoli and I have no idea what 😩 had two plants given to me, they were growing well, baseball size heads, checked on them yesterday. Was walking by the garden to go in a walk with hubby and stopped in my tracks… just nubs left! Like when a toddler just eats the soft bits off the top. WTHeck?? There is bird netting around it so I don’t think the chickens could get to it, nor would that be their first choice with all the cicadas, clover, and other goodies around (it’s clear on the other side of the house so it wasn’t convenient for them the couple hours they were out, they normally go other places). Blah!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,843 Member
    edited June 2021
    OMG love the doggie on the kneeler!

    I don't have roses in my yard, but I do trim the wild multiflora roses on the trails, and have been meaning to get gauntlet/rose gloves for forever. They come up to or past the elbows.

    https://www.homedepot.com/s/rose%20gloves?NCNI-5
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 6,476 Member
    @Ironwoman1111 I just bought that kneeler too, it's awesome! I borrowed it from someone at the food bank farm to prep veggies, the only problem is I have my seated walker hogging the trunk so I haven't taken it there yet but I'm going to take it out and put it in there instead since I'm more likely to use it than the walker. Your dog is adorable!
  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 451 Member
    It's been really gusty and when I looked out the kitchen window this morning I saw that the wind had knocked over my tomato. The wind also seems to have dried it out faster than usual so I gave it a drink when I picked it up. Hopefully that's a one off!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    It's been really gusty and when I looked out the kitchen window this morning I saw that the wind had knocked over my tomato. The wind also seems to have dried it out faster than usual so I gave it a drink when I picked it up. Hopefully that's a one off!

    I'd consider staking it, especially if there's stem damage or still-shallow rooting. FWIW, if you have any old pantyhose or similar thin knitted socks that are worn out, those make really excellent plant ties, cut into strips. They're very soft, flexible, don't cut in like strings.
  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 451 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    It's been really gusty and when I looked out the kitchen window this morning I saw that the wind had knocked over my tomato. The wind also seems to have dried it out faster than usual so I gave it a drink when I picked it up. Hopefully that's a one off!

    I'd consider staking it, especially if there's stem damage or still-shallow rooting. FWIW, if you have any old pantyhose or similar thin knitted socks that are worn out, those make really excellent plant ties, cut into strips. They're very soft, flexible, don't cut in like strings.

    It is staked, and thankfully didn't break. The wind was so bad it actually tipped the pot over.