A huge THANK YOU to Alec. In addition to being our unofficially official on staff garden expert, he is also today's guest blogger!
Alec’s Garden log:
July 5, 2011
Discovered a bug that I suspect is Aphid’s on a few of the Tomatoes on Thurs. I researched ways to get rid of them and there are quite a few methods both organic and otherwise. Last Thurs. I smushed some of the larger concentrations on the back of some the bigger leaves. Today, after a five day hiatus, I tried another method. Since the last possible rain here was Saturday morning and the whole garden needed a big drink, tried the forced water method that I read about. I held the tip of the vine in one hand, turned the vine over to expose the underside of the leaves and used the hard spray from the hose. All of the Aphids were washed off. This will hopefully keep the infestation at bay… we’ll see.
Two tool library customers, returning tools first thing this morning, asked me what I had planted so far. So, I went through the list: Tomatoes, Peppers, Carrots, Italian Parsley, Eggplant, Runner Beans, Bush Beans, Cucumbers, Yellow Summer Squash, Edamame (Soybeans), Sweet potatoes and Basil. The beds planned for this year are about 2/3’s complete. As we finish these beds in July we will consider the following veggies for fall: Spinach, Peas, Lettuce, Beets, Radishes, Cabbage, Cilantro, and Collard Greens.
The hanging Tomatoes took it tough. We had planted 4 hanging tomatoes – Two in old ‘Topsy Turvey’ bags and 2 in plastic 3 gallon buckets. We lost 1 tomato in June to too much water. Today after 5 days of not much water, the 3 remaining were very dried out and almost dead. Hanging tomatoes need to be watered about every day in heat. I had hoped that they got a good soaking during the Saturday morning rain (monitored from home by radar). I soaked them down real good this morning and they started to perk up almost immediately. We’ll see if we end up losing any vines or if they all recover.
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