Melon Beds and Eggplant

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After a really nice Mother's Day with my parents on Sunday where I was finally able to give Mom that orchid we'd bought her, visited for a few hours, and ate a meal I cooked over there, Monday was another great work day.

It was nice and cool. Boy have I missed having cool spring days for working. Seems like we went straight from winter to summer.

We won't be able to have as many melon plants as last year but, seeing as we didn't get more than a couple of melons to eat due to the fusarium wilt, having even a few successful vines will be a big success.

We worked on the lowest two beds left at the bottom of the first side of the garden. We made them wider to accommodate larger plants. I suppose the are each about 5 feet wide.





I could not wait any longer to plant the eggplants. They were beginning to struggle in their little pots, and the flea beetles had found them on the front porch anyhow, so in they went, with lots of newspaper mulch and rocks to hold it down.





The smaller peppers are not really thriving. Maybe they need more water. I'm hoping for a local thunderstorm to hit us on Wednesday and eliminate the need to drag a hose, but we'll see.





And it's time to begin tying up tomatoes!





We left to visit friends for a little bit before Michael's gymnastics class. They gave us some scrap wood. But my plan to bring it home in the minivan was overridden by the fact that there was so much beautiful wood to bring home. They loaded it in their truck and brought it out to our place after his class.





I'm really excited about this, as now I have wood to build cold frames!

And Michael's class had a nice surprise. There were two other boys there. I hope they return.

~Faith

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Angry Villagers

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We decided to try to burn the seed heads off our weeds in the garden. After so much of the garden had died, due to the fusarium wilt, as well as much of my time being spent in the kitchen, learning more about the wonderful world of canning, our garden looked like this:









The seed heads of the weeds are what is scaring me. There are some vicious, thorny weeds in there and they are LOADED with seeds.

I don't know if we spray them, if the seeds die too, or if they will drop and be fine. A friend wondered about burning them off with our propane torch. Nice idea, but I can't afford to go get the tank refill.

What is a girl to do.....?

I know! Build a torch!

You can find almost anything online. We learned a lot about torch building. One thing I SHOULD have thought of but didn't, was using a green branch, instead of the handy, ever-so-movie-torch-like, club you see here. Aesthetically pleasing, yes, but also catches fire all the way up to your fingers, if you don't watch it.





Also, the staples in the staple gun were not long enough to do the job. But you need to use 100% cotton, so you don't get any nasty burns from having melting globs of fabrics fall off and stick to your screaming flesh.

And Tiki Torch type fuel is good. Clean burning. You can use oils of other types, like motor oil, but that will give you smoke. Don't use more flammable things like gasoline.

We began by stapling the folded old t-shirt to the club.





Then the fabric must be pulled very tightly as you wrap. If you don't, you will have too much oxygen in there when burning and it will be brighter, but shorter lived. Rather like a flaming ball dropping at your feet.





Stapling every few inches, all the way around, we wrapped as though we were peasants, ready to invade Notre Dame.

Seth gives ignorant approval.





Then the staples began falling out. So we grabbed God's gift to humanity, baling wire.





Completely unprepared for this endeavor, we had only enough to pour over the torch to barely soak it. The actual instructions call for soaking the torch in a container of oil for 10 minutes. It was very thirsty.





Oooooooo! Scary villager!!!





And this is how we discovered that this method is extremely ineffective for this purpose.





The seed heads were too green to burn as well.





This garden may never dry out before those seeds drop, so our next approach is to go out with scissors and bags and trim them off.

And now you know how to NOT build a torch and eliminate seed heads.

I'm sure I can use a torch for more fun projects however. Stay tuned!

~Faith

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If you lay down, you may never get up again.

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So had become a rueful joke amongst those of us who share my own particular lifestyle.

We are TIRED!

But you know, it's a GREAT tired. By Friday night, we were fairly wiped out and, while sitting on the couch at a get together with friends, it was hard to not want to run screaming for the shores of Tahiti.

We took a Saturday Shabbat rest. Now, Shabbat is all about setting aside your worries, your tasks, the things that encumber you and remembering that the most important things are your relationship with God, and the joy and fun in the simple things of family and friends; resting in God, and remembering that He takes care of us.

But, as I often do, what began as something fun, my photography, turned into work (coming up with an order) about 3 hours into it. I asked for God's leading in it, in prayer, and suddenly the whole truth occurred to me. Whereupon I laid it down, and we spent the rest of the day playing games, reading, watching a movie, taking a nap.

Have you been able to yet open your windows? I can't wait, every winter and summer, to get to the milder weather that allows me to keep the windows open as much as possible.





I LOVE FRESH AIR!!!





I am excited about getting another scoby. I have not had one in a while. I had ordered one with a woman, and we were to go in halves, but I never heard from her again. The last few days, however, I've been chatting about it with a friend on a forum and she may be able to send me one sometime soon. You want one of these, don't you. Admit it.





Weird news of the week: My husband, who is thousands of dollars in arrears for support, and in defiance of a court order, left me a message on the machine. He'd accidentally deposited more in my account than he meant to. Please send him a check or wire him the money. He needs it.

Upon conferring with my attorney, I am keeping it and applying it to the money he owes. However, I fully expect retribution, so the money will be saved for those future weeks of punitive vengefulness. I'm so grateful I have a church family who steps in and cares for us when we need help. They have done so much for us.

The pears!





Here they are. Well, these and more that are already in the kitchen by the time time photo was taken.





They are now under newspaper in boxes, awaiting the magical time of ripening. And I am awaiting the magical time of stubbing my toe in the darkness when I forget they are there.





We are finding a few things here and there in the fusarium-decimated garden. No, not the bananas.





We are finding far more rotted produce than anything though. The melons on the counter were picked from dead plants. We have opened two of them and found they were still unripe. I suspect the rest are the same. But it's worth a shot.

A precious hubbard squash. I'm so happy!





Must get busy on those chores today! Next item, learn how to braid onions.

~Faith

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Tuesday's Twists and Turns

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After getting up at 4 am and spending time researching what was going on with the garden, Michael and I knew our previous plan of going out and watering in some inexpensive fertilizer with urea was a bad idea.

So instead we attacked another needed chore. Blackberry picking again. We got a little less this time. I think we might have another 10 or 20 gallons left on the canes for this year, so we are dwindling.





Just as we were finishing picking my mom and dad dropped by for a surprise visit, which is always nice. We did garden chatting for a little while then, as soon as they left, we rushed to get ready for the Civil War sewing meeting.

We were late, so I only got in an hour of sewing, but since I still don't have my ballgown ready, my friend, Lynn, is loaning me her extra gown. I can nip or tuck as needed and I'll be ready for the ball this weekend. This is the dress here, from our Spring Ball.





I need to spend time this week finishing up my corset. We are having a period dance and etiquette expert arrive for a workshop on Saturday, with a ball afterward. Homeschooling is awesome! :) Great history lessons here, as well as sewing.

Taking care of a necessary evil after sewing, we returned to our dental haunt, but this time for a cleaning for Michael. Upon -

UGH - IT'S RAINING NOW AGAIN LOL

-Upon returning home Michael showed his sparklies on our way down to get that giant pumpkin!





Here is red clover. It's pink in color. This is good for general immune system strengthening. If you ever see clover that blossoms red, it is Crimson clover.





Walking through the garden now. Here are our tomatoes. Many of them are split from so much rain, and you can see how the branches are dying, from what I believe is fusarium wilt.





These melons were hidden last week by a beautiful canopy of leaves, which was why we needed flags to find them.





Heading in for the kill.





The pumpkin is rotted. As we rolled it out, we were concerned it might split before we could measure it, but it came out OK.





It's 53 inches. But I noticed that the tape was not at the widest spot. It might have been 55 inches if it were.





Splitting melons are everywhere.









Rotted melons are everywhere. You can see how wet the ground is. That, combined with hot temps, was what did them in. I was doing more reading and found that melons do not need as much water as most people think. They are from arid regions and send down roots 6 feet deep. Something to think about...









There are a few plant that have not died completely. I am holding a little hope they could ripen fruits, but not counting on it, especially since the rain is falling steadily now, on already sopping ground.





The temps are cooler this week as well. Down in the lower 80's.

OK. Time to do some study in the book of Zechariah, do some housework, and then I think we'll freeze the berries.

Swimming in jam,

~Faith

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Vineyard - Before and After - Garden Death

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Getting slowly caught up on the mowing. Still more rain today though, so at a standstill again.

We got the crop area down to a level 3. We also pulled all the weeds and still need to have enough dry time to spray.

Before:









During (I was working too, but stopped to take photos.):













And After:













SINK HOLES

This hole is about 5 feet across. We let the weeds grow on the edges and down as far as they can to try to hold the earth. I have no idea how deep these holes go. There are several of them.





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I believe the garden is dying. Just as we were about to begin to harvest all our hard-won produce.

All over this area gardens are succumbing to Fusarium Wilt. That's a fungus that thrives in hot, damp summers. The garden was struggling for the last few weeks, but still going OK. However, last week we got 3.5 inches of rain and then went into the 90's during the day.

It was at that time that the whole thing just died. About 100 melons, all gone. They are rotting on the vines before even getting ripe. Same with most of the rest of the produce. We pretty much realized this about 2 or4 3 days ago, but didn't know what was going on.

It was a lot of work. We are fighting disappointment, but know that each year is another learning experience.

Here are some pictures that I took this morning...












Even our giant pumpkin is rotting. We need to go down there just as soon as the rain stops in a little bit, and pull it out to give it a measurement.

There is no cure. There are things we can do to lessen the chances of total crop loss in the future. None are guaranteed, but we will try to implement as many as we can.

*Raised beds - to lower moisture if heavy rains occur again.
*Drip irrigation - to support those raised beds.
*Rip out and burn all vegetation in garden - to cut down on fungal spores.
*Solarize soil with black tarp - 3 months in hot sun, reduces spores somewhat.
*Do not use fertilizers with urea - urea promotes fungal growth.
*Choose "wilt resistant" varieties - sadly most heirlooms are not.
*Use mulch - keeps soil slightly cooler.
*Use Trichoderma harzianum strain T-22 (AKA RootShield) - a beneficial fungus that binds to plant roots and protects them from aggressive fungi; a best hedge.

Signs of Fusarium wilt in your garden:

Are your plant's leaves wilting during the heat of the day, then recovering when cool? Are the leaves beginning to turn yellow? Do they look like they lack water, but you know you've been watering?

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletcher/programs/tomato/diseases/fusarium_wilt_race_3_Polk_1.jpg


http://ipmnet.org/plant-disease/plant_images/TomatoFusariumWilt.jpg



You may be battling Fusarium Wilt. The fungi sets up housekeeping in the water channels of your plant, eventually blocking them so that the plant actually is not receiving the water the roots are attempting to send. The plant dies, a portion at a time, but it happens rather rapidly.

Cut open a branch and look for tell-tale signs of dark brown streaks going up the channels of your plant. You can sometimes see them on the outside of the branches. If you cut them open, you will see brown spots around the perimeter of the branch.

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/IPM/images/cucurbit/diseases/fusarium-wilt/confused_fusarium-droughtstress_zoom.jpg

http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/4dmg/images/wilt2.jpg

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On a happier note, here are soon-to-be additions to our herb garden!

A catnip plant. I was afraid the cat would attack it, but she did not. I like the fragrance.





A salvia, three lavenders, a sorrel, a hyssop, and a feverfew.





As I was mowing yesterday, I began noticing several herbs I'd not paid attention to before, just growing wild. Red Clover, which is actually pink. Comfrey, seems to be everywhere. :)

~Faith

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