baby raccoon

[becke_davis]

Awww!

[Melhay]

Has anyone heard of this tomatoe fungus that is suppose to be spread by the wind?  A friend of mine has mentioned this to me to just let me know, I have not been watching the news lately - to depressing for me. 

But, I am going to google it and see what I get.  I did find a small piece of information when I looked very quickly.  I saw they are not worried about the commercial crops, they can handle it, they are trying to warn the locate gardeners of it.  Now, with my quick look (I ran out of time) I did not see what to do to take care of it.  But if I was looking at the correct news article it is not harmful to people, only hits the tomatoe plants and kills the plants.

It may even be only in the North Eastern states now.  I was just curious if anyone else had heard of it.

[becke_davis]

Re: the tomato fungus, I'm going to post links:

 http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1266.pdf

  http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/house/blog/gardening/2009/07/late_blight_affects_tomatoes_a.html

 http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20090711/COMMUNITIES/907110319/1005/NEWS01

 http://web.aces.uiuc.edu/vista/pdf_pubs/929.PDF

 http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pp/faculty/dillard/pdf/tomatoes.pdf

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/house/articles/2009/07/16/theres_a_tomato_fungus_among_us/

[Melhay]

Becke I want to thank you for all these links on this Tomatoe Fungus.  I have really been using them and feel well informed.  Thank you!!

Now, unfortunetly, yesterday started off as a sad day for me.  I removed all but 4 of my tomatoe plants due to this fungus.  I have this gut feeling the 4 that are left will be gone shortly also.  This is sad since they were doing so wonderfully, blooming so well, and fresh garden tomatoes are just the best to have.

But on the lighter side, my cucumber plants have looots of blooms and I have pickles growing!!!  They are just the cutes little things to look at.  I am excited about these and hope that nothing befalls to them, as did my lettuce and tomatoes.   Also, the green beans are doing wonderful also.  The little bushes are getting full of the green beans.  I look forward to picking them and adding them to my dinners!! Hurray!!

Oh yes, the lettuce thing... The rabbits found a way into the garden by digging under the fence.  I got that stopped right away, but they ate all the lettuce down to nubs.  Now that the lettuce has started to grow back it looks aweful as if there are bugs eating at it now.  I can win for nothing.  But I keep reminding myself, this is my first year and I wanted to learn from it this year for future years.  So, that is what I am learning, with some help from you kind people.

Message Edited by Melhay on 08-09-2009 08:43 AM

[becke_davis]

Rabbits do like lettuce, but I still would rather have rabbits than bugs or tomato fungus. That's so sad about your tomatoes! I grew a  lot more veggies at my old house than at this one, mainly because the sun hits the front of my house and the back is pretty shaded.  The side gets some sun, and I've tried growing veggies there, but it's not enough sun for them to thrive. Next house, I want the sun coming from the back -- partly because I like it shining through my kitchen window, and the back of this house is always fairly dark.

[TiggerBear]

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becke_davis wrote:
Rabbits do like lettuce, but I still would rather have rabbits than bugs or tomato fungus. That's so sad about your tomatoes! I grew a  lot more veggies at my old house than at this one, mainly because the sun hits the front of my house and the back is pretty shaded.  The side gets some sun, and I've tried growing veggies there, but it's not enough sun for them to thrive. Next house, I want the sun coming from the back -- partly because I like it shining through my kitchen window, and the back of this house is always fairly dark.

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Yeah one of the reason I picked our house was the front was kinda shady, so it felt comfy and cool. Then the back was open and bright, not too open, just right. 

[becke_davis]

We didn't have a lot of time for house-hunting when my husband got transferred to Cincinnati, AND we didn't think we'd be here long. That was 16 years ago!

[TiggerBear]

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becke_davis wrote:
We didn't have a lot of time for house-hunting when my husband got transferred to Cincinnati, AND we didn't think we'd be here long. That was 16 years ago!

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(chuckle) Ah well.. My husband unknowingly messes with me by reminding me that he could transfer with his position just about anywhere in the world. I spent 2 months finding this place 4 different agencys, over 500 online entrys, well over 60 walk throughs. (big sigh) I was trying to make 4 different people with different needs, happy with the same house. I sugceeded mostly. Me I'd like a kitchen at least 4 times this size. I only saw 2 bigger in all the houses I looked at. What is with the Richmond surrounding area? I can't be the only cook. (sigh) Nothing perfect. (shrug) I told my husband if he REALLY wants to move after his parents die it's up for discussion but not until.

[becke_davis]

This is the longest we've lived in one place. Not counting our apartments, we had two houses in Greater London, one in Succasunna, NJ, one in Fox River Grove, IL, one in Hoffman Estates, Il, one in Mt. Prospect, IL -- and I feel as if I'm forgetting one. 

[Sunltcloud]

I counted them for my memoir writing group. Thirty-three places. I've lived in 33 places!?!

Many of them had gardens; especially the ones in my childhood. Those were big gardens; we grew the vegetables we needed for our own table and fruit to spare. Then came the gardenless years of young adulthood when a few pots of geraniums were enough and the veggies came from the market. The gardens of my three marriages were varied,  experimental. Ha! So were the marriages, I guess. With young children some were focused on play areas with swing sets, some catered to a husband's green thumb and his love of flowers, and the last one was well-ordered, mostly lawn with hardly a blade of grass out of order. Psychological understatement here! I chopped down my favorite bushes before I left. Then it was back to apartments, city gardening on the patio, fresh flowers on the table from the grocery store.

And finally - I've been living in this home almost 22 years - a little bit of everything. A hilly slope on the west side. A creek with extensive walking paths across the street on the east side. A sunny south with shrubs, trees, a few flowers. My tomatoes and herbs, potted, moved from their original spot on the front porch (east) to north/western exposure with enough sun to ripen the tomatoes into sweet delicious handfulls. And a sitting area facing the gnome, Buckston Sr.  and Buddha -  my symbols of fantasy and wisdom.

I love living here, and now I will go and check my tomatoes for fungus. No tomato fungus in California I hope.

[becke_davis]

33 places? Oh, man -- you beat me by a long shot. I really hate the packing and moving process. Can't imagine doing it that many times!

[Sunltcloud]

Much of my moving happened in my younger years when there was not much accumulated and transfers were accomplished with the help of a couple of friends with cars. Once I was married and serious collections of books, yarn, furniture and memories increased, moving became a chore. The good thing was always that new space awaited me to be filled with my favorite photographs.

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becke_davis wrote:
33 places? Oh, man -- you beat me by a long shot. I really hate the packing and moving process. Can't imagine doing it that many times!

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[becke_davis]

The move to England was the hardest, because our furniture came by sea and didn't arrive for six months. And it rained the day it was delivered, and our sofa was wrecked by some sea slime that got in with the the furniture somehow.

The other worst move was the first year we were married, when an apt. became available on New Year's Day. We had partied the night before, and so had our team of movers -- my brother and his friends. We were under twenty years old, all hungover. And the apt. was pretty bad, too.

Now that I think of it, there was another bad one -- moving from NJ back to Chicago, two weeks before my son was born, when the temps were in the  mid-nineties. Ugh.