Just returned from a 7 day vacation on the west coast. My neighbor’s daughter cared for the two flocks in my absence – released at 7.30am each morning from the coop and re-cooped at 5pm each evening with plenty of food and water. All 14 were in great spirits when I greeted them this morning and enthusiastically beaked down their yogurt probiotics. My rain gauge said 0.5″ of rain during the past 7 days, so nothing had died off and I gave a good watering (500 gals) to the vegs, berries and fruit tree saplings.
My tomatoes are doing poorly. Each year I rotate the tomato growing area and during the past 3 years my tomatoes have been excellent – strong plants, plentiful, good looking, good tasting tomatoes. This year not so. The 20+ plantings close to the muscadines struggled with yellowing leaves and poor growth and poor fruit (fusarium wilt?). The 18 plantings outside the vegetable enclosure did better but because the area was not enclosed, they were attacked by squirrels and other animals. The 10 plantings at the top of the hill did best and are producing well but the wilt is attacking the lower levels. Interestingly, a batch of younger plants are not yet affected by the wilt, so a contributing factor could be the growing conditions earlier in the season.
My conclusions: 1) More than 50% of my plants were heirloom tomatoes – I just got carried away with heirlooms. The hybrids with disease resistance have done much better than the heirlooms and next year I will grow fewer heirlooms: 2) planting close to the muscadines was not a good idea. Although I dug a trench to amputate the muscadine roots which grow vigorously and long, I probably missed a few. Also the muscadines, which are to the east of the tomatoes, deprived them of some sun exposure; 3) drainage may also have been a problem at the main location, which is at the foot of the hill; and 4) I may have contaminated the compost heap with last years wilted tomatoes – so must improve hygienic practices, and when I clear this year’s tomatoes at the end of the season, I must compost them separately.
My muscadine are doing very well, as they did last year, and the scuppernong should be ready soon. I also have a good patch of healthy looking melons which should be ripe in the next week or so.
The weather is less oppressive though still in the low 90’s – probably due to less humidity, some cooling breezes and intermittent cloud cover, which means I am tackling long neglected weeding. There appeared to be much less activity at the bee hive. Could be the cooler weather means less congregating at the entrance. However, could also be the case that they may have swarmed. I will open up the hive and investigate and see if there are 3 full frames for one last harvesting for the season.
