Fusarium Wilt

You thought I forgot about my tomato problem, didn't you?!? I took closer pictures of my tomato plant, so you can see what the damage looks like.
This is on one side of the plant, right in the middle. It is western facing, and the afternoon sun was cooking the newly exposed green tomatoes, so I put up some sun cloth to protect the fruit--hopefully, I will be able to harvest good tomatoes before the plant completely dies.
After looking into this problem, I believe this is Fusarium Wilt (FW). It probably came in with the plant from the nursery, as I have never had this problem before. The best prevention of FW is to grow FW resistant varieties. Generally, commercially grown plants are free of viruses and wilts, but maybe not this time. I was really impressed with this tomato plant up until this time--it had a lot of fruit and healthy growth. Now, I need to be careful and not grow tomatoes here for 5-7 years, as the FW will live in the ground that long.

Too Many Tomaotes?

I picked these Roma tomatoes yesterday. In the picture, the large colander is sitting on the path between two of my veggie boxes, which are 18" apart. The tomatoes weighed in at 30 pounds, minus the colander. Mmmmm . . . good sauce!

Beans Are Up!

My Summerfelt beans are starting to emerge! Growing dry beans (as opposed to green/string beans) is the easiest! You just plant and water (and fertilize if you remember!), then wait for the beans to dry on the bush. Once they are dry, just pick the pods and pop the beans out. If you really want to make it easy, put the dry bean pods in an old pillow case and let the kids jump on it! Or, put the pillow case with beans by a door that gets a lot of traffic and let the people walk on it. Then, you can pour out the beans and blow off the chaff. My Dad and I like to sit and shell the beans while watching TV. Store the beans in a jar on the shelf, where they will remain good for many years.

Tomato Problems . . .

My husband's tomato plant has a problem. The top and bottom of the plant looks fine, it's just the middle part that is dying out. I will have to look into the problem, and let you know what it is tomorrow. Any guesses??

Topping Semi-Dwarf Fruit Trees

These are my semi-dwarf apricot trees. I recently topped these and my pear trees. If I didn't top them and head back some of the branches, they would just keep growing until the trees were 15' tall and many feet wide. I had an semi-dwarf apricot tree years ago and I didn't realize that they would grow so large. It got away from me and grew quite tall and wide. The tree ended up with a disease a couple of years later and had to be taken out. Now I know I have to keep my trees in check! It is hard to cut happily growing branches, but it pays off in the end. I will be able to harvest my fruit while standing on the ground, instead of trying to steady myself on a ladder; my trees will not take over the neighboring fruit trees (they are planted close together); and they won't be hanging over the fence to drop fruit in my neighbor's yard. I've always thought that what hung over the fence into your yard was yours--to prune it back, to enjoy the shade, or to harvest the fruit; but, I don't want to burden my neighbor just because I didn't keep my trees in line, so I keep them pruned. I do have a semi-dwarf almond tree that I have never pruned, and it is about 20' tall, but it has been there for over 30 years, and no one has complained.

Summerfelt Beans

Last Friday I got my Summerfelt beans planted. I also covered the garden with plant trays to keep my three kitties out! Once the beans are up and growing, I will remove the trays.

These are some of my Summerfelt beans. They taste really good when made into "Navy" Bean Soup!

Citrus Tree Leaves

If you have a citrus tree (orange, lemon, lime), you may see a lot of dead leaves underneath its canopy. A few weeks back we had several daytime temperatures of 107' or more. This is the response if my orange tree. When the heat is high, the tree can't always keep up with the moisture loss, so it drops some of its leaves.