Today brings us our first two cucumbers, first French fillet beans, first tomatilloes, and first jalepeno. The two tomatoes we picked came as damaged goods but still tasted great. The black prince tomato had nibble marks and the San marzano tomato was suffering from end blossom rot as so many seem to in the perrenial plot. Need to figure that one out.
We harvested our first ears of corn (9!) today in celebration of Oliver’s birthday. The first ear we ate raw right on the spot. The kernals were still a little small but tasted sweet and tender. We also had beet greens, beets, and collard greens from the farm with some smokey potato salad with Applefield’s potatoes. What a fantastic dinner!
Today’s harvest: Sweet 100 Tomatoes, French beans, broccoli, soy beans, 2 zucchini, eggplant, 2 beets, 2 carrots, 9 ears corn, collards, cilantro, basil, nasturtium flowers, onion greens
Today’s harvest theme: Salsa (with peas and french beans)
While late blight has been common in New England for many many years, this is the earliest it has ever hit. The virus’ biggest claim to fame is the Irish Potato Famine of 1840.
Normally we don’t see blight until August, but thanks to distributors shipping up plants to be sold in large chain stores (Walmart, K-Mart, Home Depot, and others) from the South, the virus has gotten an early start.
I’ve never understood the economics of shipping seedlings half way up the country when they can be grown/obtained right here. Another reason to shop at local farms
From UMASS Agriculture & Landscape Program Vegetable Program:
What to look for:
Late blight canker on tomato stem
The most common early symptoms on tomato transplants are brown lesions on stems, with white fungal growth developing under moist conditions. (See image above.)
Classic symptoms are large (at least nickel-sized) olive-green to brown spots on leaves with slightly fuzzy white fungal growth on the underside when conditions have been humid (early morning or after rain). Sometimes the lesion border is yellow or has a water-soaked appearance. Leaf lesions begin as tiny, irregularly shaped brown spots. Brown to blackish lesions also develop on upper stems. Firm, brown spots develop on tomato fruit. If the lesion has a yellow border and is occurring on the bottom of the plant, it is likely due to infection of either early blight or Septoria leaf spot, two common diseases found in home gardens.
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Here are the steps you should take:
1. Please inspect your tomato plants daily! If symptoms are already appearing on plants in your garden, these plants should be removed. Plants should be placed in a plastic bag, secured and discarded in the trash or completely buried 2’ or so underground so plants decompose and will not re-sprout. Plants should not be composted, put on a cull pile, or left outside. Your neighbors, not to mention commercial growers, will appreciate your taking this action immediately.
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2. If you want to try to control late blight with fungicides, you need to begin spraying fungicide now – even before you see symptoms – and you need to continue spraying regularly. Use a product that contains chlorothalonil. Even here, these products are only effective if used before the disease appears and should be reapplied every 5-7 days if wet weather persists. Chlorothalonil is a protectant fungicide, with no systemic movement in the plant, so thorough coverage is necessary. For organic farmers and gardeners, the options are very limited, since only copper fungicides can be used, and copper is not very effective on late blight. It is easily washed off by rainfall.3. Consider growing more of the other vegetables instead of tomatoes and potatoes this year. Enjoy your lettuce, eggplant, peppers, squash, carrots, green beans and broccoli!
On my first visit to the farm in a few days, I found the tomatoes covered in white flies or aphids. Some of the leaves were wilted. I suspect the new squatters are to blame.
What to do? I did a bit of research and found some reassuring information on Colorado State University’s Extension’s website:
Figure 6
Whiteflies and aphids (Figure 6) both cause leaf yellowing and leave a characteristic sticky excrement called honeydew. Leaves appear shiny and are somewhat sticky when honeydew is present. Damage usually is minimal on tomatoes and often can be ignored. If aphids become a problem, some applications of insecticidal soap are quite effective.
So we shouldn’t worry? It is difficult to let them be with so many attached to our precious plants an some wilted leaves. To be safe I sprayed them down with the mixture Chris made earlier. No immediate results, but hopefully be tomorrow there will be at least a slight decline in the population.
Our poor tomatoes. Left out overnight one night, they suffered a chilly 50°F night which has stunted their growth – probably permanently. We will plant a few to see how they do, but decided to purchase plants from a couple local farm stands rather than risk it.
It is too early to plant – especially with the weather we have been having. Tomatoes are flying out of the farm stands so we made our purchases before they were all gone.
From Springdell Farm, Littleton
From Applefield Farm
