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the south garden patch, mid august: last night i smiled at the single pepper that has grown in one of the three remaining pepper plants. but this morning i discovered it had been a feast for bugs last night. now i’m wearing my sturgeon face. this garden has been an exercise in futility. first i lost all the cabbage & spinach & then most of the pepper plants. the cherry tomato plants appear to be fine, but no blossoms yet.

previous south garden patch updates: [july] [june] [may]

the north garden patch, mid august: this week, within three days, some sort of blight destroyed all the pumpkin, winter squash, zucchini & cucumber. earlier this week i discovered light gray freckles & assumed i was dealing with a plant mold. one treatment includes a ground cinnamon solution. the next day the pumpkin leaves were completely gray & all the blossoms gone. then we used another organic solution, but that didn’t seem to help either. so this morning i cut all the affected pumpkin leaves & discovered one pumpkin plant with green leaves.

the corn suffered another ravaging. i suspect it is from a raccoon i spotted in late july. only the stalks remain & i plan to cut them down later today.

on a good note, the family has enjoyed zucchini, cucumber & beefsteak tomatoes from the north garden. the zucchini & cucumber plants appear to be concluding their yield while the tomatoes are just coming in to it.

maybe it’s too early to tell, but i think i’ve lost all the pumpkin, winter squash, & zucchini plants. the cantaloupe & cucumber plants don’t seem to be too far behind the pumpkin plants. i really suspect it’s a plant mold due to all the rain this area has had recently. the beefsteak tomato & cherry tomato plants appear fine.

no one said organic gardening would by easy.

previous north garden patch updates: [july] [june] [may]

the north garden patch, mid july: though a quarter was destoryed by a very hungry critter, there are still a variety of un harmed plants: 4 pumpkin plants, 4 winter squash plants, 4 zuchini plants, 10 canaloupe plants, 4 cuccumber plants, 10 beefsteak tomoto plants & 6 cherry tomato plants.

i’ve heard it’s not to late in these parts to replant spinach plants. anyone know if that’s true?

the north garden patch at the end of june: i thought for sure that storm that came through on june 18 wiped out the sweet corn, but with kidlinger help the corn survives & thrives. it’s the pea plants that seemed to have withered (but i don’t believe the storm had anything to do with it).

again, for those keeping record: 4 pumpkin plants, 4 winter squash plants, 4 zuchini plants, 10 canaloupe plants, 4 cuccumber plants, 10 beefsteak tomoto plants & 6 cherry tomato plants.

also, 1 raccoon & 1 groundhog have been sited in night sorties.

less than $100 have been spent on the gardens. no pesticides or herbicides have been used with the exception of natural, organic pesticides (like cayenne pepper, ground cinnamon & the like).

the gardening strategy handbooks used: trowel & error by sharon lovejoy & the new self-sufficient gardener by john seymour.