How Does Your Garden Grow?

Sometimes, not so well.

This has been a tough year here in the burb.  I’m already working on next year’s plan, because this one is all but shot.

Our broccoli, cabbage and brussels sprouts bolted.  That was our fault.  We waited too long to transplant them.  Our winter squash got hit by boreres and our first batch of summer squash did not get pollinated.

Now I find that something has ruined our crop of Roma tomatoes.  This is especially bad, because Roma’s are our most important crop.  We can and freeze gallons and gallons of it.  Brittan makes ketchup and pasta sauce.  I make barbecue sauce.  All of a sudden we have a problem.  And I don’t know what it is.

At first I thought it was birds, but no longer believe so, because our slicing tomatoes are pretty much untouched.  I then considered rabbits, but now believe it is an insect of some kind.  The tomatoes are all half eaten and now the plants are drying up.  I am absolutely devastated this morning.  I refuse to take a ‘nuclear’ option with chemical pesticides.  That violates everything we’re trying to do.

I think my plan is to get, or make, some insecticidal soap.  I will enlist the assistance of my Bride and pick all the partially eaten fruit, then spray with the soap.  I will also take cuttings from healthy plants and start some earthboxes to see if I can get at least a small harvest from that.

Folks, these are the consequences of natural farming.  We don’t rely on pharmaceuticals to keep our crops productive, so occasionally we have problems.  On the other side, we also don’t ingest or sell toxic residue into the human population who consume our products.  On the whole, the trade is worth it.  Today it doesn’t feel like it.

There have been successes, too.  Our potatoes are looking great.  Our asparagus bed is coming along nicely and we would have some nice produce from that next spring.  We’ve enjoyed some nice squash and had an early abundance of bell and jalapeno peppers.  Our experiment with beets went well enough that they will be our primary fall crop.  We did great with green beans and so far, our slicing tomatoes look like they will be fine.  Oh, and we did great with cherry tomatoes.

The biggest success has been our herb bed.  The basil, oregano, thyme and parsley are phenomenal.  We have had fair luck with rosemary, too, though most of it is in the sun room.

The fight goes on.  We feel good about our choices and wins outnumber losses.  It’s just that with these Roma tomatoes, it’s a heartbreaking loss.  It’s like Kentucky losing to Duke.  Totally unacceptable.  Stay tuned, we may yet snatch victory from the jaws of…. whatever is eating my stupid tomatoes!

 

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