Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Many shades of green.

    A lot is happening in the Niagara over the last few weeks. Some successes and some failures. Many of the seeds have been unable to thrive in the heavy clay soils. Due to some heavy rainfalls the clay earth formed a crust. The weaker seedlings where unable to break through this layer so the herbs, lettuce and other delicate crop are struggling if not non-existent. The eggplants, beets  and peppers are having mixed success. So that's the bad news but the good news is plentiful. There are many healthy bean and pea plants; as well as corn, pumpkin, squash, and melon plants. The potatoes are starting to shoot up aggressively also.
    For those of you following from the earliest days you will know that my major crop is tomatoes. They started flowering about ten days ago. The plants have recovered nicely from their battle with wet soils and are shooting skyward. Howie and I drove metal stakes so its soon time to start tying them up. Some aphids have started to show up so I will be spraying the foliage with phosphate free dish detergent and water to discourage their feasting. I have planted some Marigold seeds to encourage ladybugs but I cant do too many of these because ladybugs are a menace for wine makers.
    I am ecstatic to report that on Monday the 18th I discovered my first little green tomato hanging on one of the Brandywine plants. Hopefully many more to come in the near future. This is a make or break period right now and I am a bit nervous about how well they will set fruit. I have done my best to give them good growing conditions and it is up to them now.
Pics to come soon.