Bacteria got my cukes and tomatoes

 My tomatoes are ripening! I have had some interesting surprises. As expected I have a lot of San Marzano tomatoes. The first to be ripe were the ones that Josh bought at the gardening centre, and they are more than double the size of the ones we had last year. We also have a bunch of the cherry tomatoes ripening, and they are cherry size but they are not the orange-red I expected, they are a chocolate tone (like red grapes). Those come from the single plant which Nathalie gave us as a gift last April, and the plant is monstrously huge. It is next to one of the cages and I keep having to tack up branches or they will sprawl in every direction on the ground. I have a whole row of chocolate tomatoes which seem to be turning red and are ridged like pumpkins. I just googled images of chocolate tomatoes and it turned up both the cherry ones and a browner version of the ones I have. Maybe they turn red first? The red one seems firmly attached to the vine still so I will let it continue to ripen. It is huge, but like many of the San Marzanos, it has patches of black. On the chocolates it is in their ridges, on the San Marzano it is on the bottom and moves into the centre of the seeds. I recognize this as the bacteria which Claude identified last year. We have been avoiding using the sprinkler and watering the tomatoes with a soaker hose, as well as spraying hydrogen peroxide on them. 

Many of the tomatoes seem okay, but others are definitely afflicted. Julie e-mailed me today asking for my advice on the same problem on her tomatoes (which came from my sprouts). I had carefully dipped every one of the seeds I planted in hydrogen peroxide before I planted them, but we ended up with so many volunteers from my compost (many infected last year) that my efforts were undermined.

From one side they look perfect, but...

 you can see that bacteria got some of my tomatoes

I also did a bit of research on the cucumber problem. Most of my cukes have collapsed, some with small cucumbers shriveling on the vine. It turns out that it is very likely another bacterial infection caused by the dreaded and elusive cucumber beetle. I found some good advice online, including an interesting blog by Susan Reimer (journalist and amateur gardener), with a section of Q & A with University of Maryland with some solid tips on dealing with this problem (see http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/features/gardening/2011/06/ ). It turns out I did everything
wrong. I should have tilled my earth to destroy their eggs (one of the benefits of the hay gardening technique is that you do not have to till. Maybe I should anyways?). I should not plant the cukes in the same place or even next to the place they were in the past three years. This means a lot of rotating, and keeping track. I guess having the blog can help, I can check where I put the cukes in 2011 and 2012 once we get to 2014. Better keep up the blogging! I also should remove all perennial weeds as they can carry over the bacteria from year to year. I have been a bit slack on weeding in that part of the garden, as the weeds are growing in behind the chicken wire and a bit hard to get too. Another recommendation was to plant the cukes later after June 15. However, this advice came from Maryland, so I am not sure how that will work in our climate. I will try and see, can't end up with a worse harvest than this year's. I also should have removed any affected plants immediately to prevent spread. Whoops. Maybe I can still rescue some before my whole crop is destroyed.  To make matters even more complicated, the beetles move very fast and drop or hide when disturbed, so it is possible to have no idea until the cucumber plants suddenly wither and die. Also makes it hard to pick them off and kill them (I hate doing that anyways).  It was only by chance that I saw the beetle on one of my peppers (not even near the cucumbers) and then saw it again on the St. Henri Garden webpage with an article on cucumber beetles (see my Guerilla Gardening blog). Another suggestion was to spray the plants  with spinosad, pyrethrum, or neem products—which are all organic. Planting a row of corn next to them can help too. Funny, last year the one single volunteer corn which grew in the garden was right next to the cucumbers. Last year, I just stuck the seeds in pots and transplanted the seedlings into the earth and waited and watered and by this time last summer I had huge beautiful cucumbers coming out of my ears. Could there be a connection??

Yesterday I harvested all the basil for the second time, and it filled a garbage bag.Actually, I discovered I missed three basil plants which were hidden by the nasturtiums and must have bolted last night, because today they towered over the flowers. Josh had the idea of donating this second harvest to our synagogue, and spent three hours with our son and some friends at our synagogue last night making fresh pesto. They froze it, and Josh hopes to sponsor a fundraising pasta dinner featuring homemade fresh pasta and pesto made from our basil and garlic. We may even manage a third harvest, I left enough of each plant intact so we can hope.


 Today, in the rain, I planted a whole pack of delphinium seeds. The ones I bought and planted last year did not survive so I am trying to do it from seed this time. According to the package, they should be planted in August or September. Okay, I will see. Also, one of my colleagues told me she grows calla lilies in her garden, which inspired me to plant the calla lily Lisa gave me next to the black eyed susans. Hope they will do well.

Sunflower ready to bloom

Disco Marietta marigolds, love the name!

Orpine in bloom

Today, my blue morning glory finally bloomed! My friend Miriam gave me a pack of seeds, and I shared them with Naomi. Naomi's bloomed a few days ahead of mine, so I still had hope. It is gorgeous! I also had a new flower bloom. I cannot remember who gave it to me and once again have no idea what it is called. Its bud looks like a white box which opens into four petals. I will take photos and post them next time. Most of the photos featured on my blog today were taken by my son, Isaac.

I was very excited to see that today I had a reader in Sweden. How did you find me??