Thursday, July 25, 2013

Buried in Tomatoes

Well, well. 

Buried (not quite) in tomatoes today. 


I am guessing I'll have to pull this plant, suffering from wilt, out. 

It's Gypsy, from Baker Creek.   It succumbed within two days, just about. 

It's spreading, see it? 

I am going to pick most of these tomatoes when I go back out. 


Another view of the same bed.  You can see the wilt is extensive.  This is one of the few drawbacks of raising non-hybrids.  I'll be rotating beds for next year, and not planting as closely together.  


These tomatoes are down at the other end... and that's a SuperSauce, which, as you can see... has some wilt problems of it's own. 

I'm going to pick as many as I can, and then give some to Kathy so she can can some.  I am making chili base and Italian sauce this evening, freezing both. 

We have very cloudy skies right now, and while I was out mowing a bit, I felt raindrops on me.  It hasn't let loose though, and now is lighter out.  I turned a hose on full blast in the flower bed... and ran us out of water, so am waiting for the water to pump back up in the well. 

I took a picture of this before I cut it... and I actually only had to cut a bit of the yard, since everything has gone dormant... 


As Erma Bombeck wrote, "The grass is always greener over the septic tank".  Too true. 
However, if you remember, about a month ago we had to have the septic tank sucked out.  The ground was disturbed here, and I took the opportunity to spread some grass seed thickly. 
Look what happened!  
I spread the same seed in the pasture, so if it ever rains again, we may have some re-growth down there. 

Speaking of tanks... I keep cutting back a seedling tree at the propane tank, but am afraid to do anything really strongly to it, as my uncle and aunt had a propane tank explode on them once. 
I did remove a huge starling's nest from the bonnet... for the last four years, a starling has raised two clutches in this tank... so we can never check the propane during April, May and June.  Mama is finished now for the year. 


The sunflowers provided us with so much glory this year... I want to get them out of the garden and into a dedicated space for them... and am still trying to decide where that will be for next year.  I just love them, and Keith marveled at them all summer. 


The hot flower bed is also just past it's prime... as we wind summer down. 


Though the zinnia side is still pretty strong... and the asclepias outdid themselves, as far as I'm concerned. 


I leave you with a picture of Donald and the girls grazing, just a few minutes ago.  He takes such good care of them... and I have to walk them in every night, or I think they would stay in the pasture.  

What wonderful eggs they give us, too. 


11 comments:

  1. I just love your zinna's and so does momma! we think your farm is so beautiful and wish we also lived out in the country! that was a good pic of donald watching over the girls, we are hoping for some rain tomorrow but not enuf to stop the bikers, well some are hoping it will rain hard enuf to stop them cos the traffic is going to be awful.
    stella rose

    ReplyDelete
  2. DO you know, we do not have one red tomato yet? Maybe 100 green ones though.

    And, do duck eggs taste the same as chicken eggs?

    ReplyDelete
  3. my tomatoes are the only things producing so far and i have wilt too. i have pulled out a few plants and am about to pull out more. this has not been my best garden year!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sad to see that tomato wilt going on there but yes, you do have a lot of tomatoes to do something with. We have a beautiful mid 70 degree day here and I got out and got some tomatoes and green beens at a road side stand. Tomatoes were selling for 3 for a dollar.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You're right that the plants that were beautiful just a month ago are winding down in the summer heat. Love the sunflowers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sorry about the wilt. I've only got two plants, and only one tomato so far.

    ReplyDelete
  7. All of my tomato seeds came from Baker Creek, they've grown very large. Only one plant has tomatoes, all are green. The other plants have all kinds of flowers and are looking wind blown with branches dying off. This year the tomatoes are not going to give us a good harvest :-(

    I love your flower beds, the sunflowers are beautiful and tall!!!!

    Ducks are wonderful feather friends, their eggs are really good for baking items.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Our tomatoes are still green. We don't usually get any until the end of August.

    Sorry to hear about your "wilt" problem. I hope you still get plenty of tomatoes for your sauce!

    Love your garden pics :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. The few I have are still green also ! Hopefully they will be turning red soon . Have a great weekend

    ReplyDelete
  10. Use those green tomatoes too. I've made green tomato salsa when we've pulled out plants for the winter and they still had a lot of tomatoes on them.

    Have a great weekend. Will be doing a lot of riding.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wonderful update, I so enjoyed seeing Donald and his girls - I have a real soft spot for ducks :-)

    ReplyDelete

I love comments!