Cup o' Joe and Tea Too

[ValerieJ]

Every where is far from us too. I do go down to check on things at the golf course 2-3 times a week, but that's less than a mile from home. Everything else is milessssss.

With your DH's building project, those trips to Home Depot might be necessary! (Not that a lot of people would view it that way )

Yes. He miscalculated the siding. In all fairness, he wasn't trying to get everything that day. He really wasn't expecting to be stuck here in the middle of the project.

 

[N F C]

Yes. He miscalculated the siding. In all fairness, he wasn't trying to get everything that day. He really wasn't expecting to be stuck here in the middle of the project.

I hope he gets what he need to be able to finish the coop up...you've waited a long time for that!

 

[ValerieJ]

I hope he gets what he need to be able to finish the coop up...you've waited a long time for that!

I know, and it's always the toughest when you think you're just about to get what you need and something like this comes up. But, actually, I just checked out Home Depot and they are open. We talked about it, and since I have to be at a doctor's office tomorrow, and we'll be driving right by HD, we will probably stop and get what he needs.

 

[pennyJo1960]

We get to stay home today Morning all damn Moose our lab he deftly put his feet up on the kitchen sink grabbed the dishrag took his feet down

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Not all rain forests are tropical. I'm not exaggerating. I really do live in a rain forest. There is a clearing where the garden is, and if we can get a long enough season, we can grow a few things. Squash grows well. Some years I can grow broccoli and cauliflower. But, the ground is so wet all the time and moss and fungus is everywhere. It's pretty, but just hard to keep a garden going.

Could you use raised gardens and maybe with a way for them to drain well.

 

[ValerieJ]

Could you use raised gardens and maybe with a way for them to drain well.

I do have raised garden beds, and even brought in some great "NW mix" dirt from a local supplier. Five years ago I had a great garden, and frankly everything still grows big and beautiful. Tomato plants that aren't trimmed will take over the whole garden, but I had trimmed and cut off thousands of tomatoes and still, just before harvest, some sort of fungus sets in. I think I need to take a year to treat the soil and try again next year. That first year was much warmer and drier, but all the years since have been extraordinarily wet.

 

[sourland]

@ValerieJ do an online search on Fusarium Wilt. Perhaps that is what is hitting your tomatoes. If so there are resistant varieties.

 

[N F C]

@ValerieJ do an online search on Fusarium Wilt. Perhaps that is what is hitting your tomatoes. If so there are resistant varieties.

Is that the same as blossom end rot Sour?

(Not that I currently have tomato plants, but curious.)

 

[sourland]

I think they are separate diseases. The wilt tends to hit the leaves causing them to yellow, wilt and die.

 

[ValerieJ]

@ValerieJ do an online search on Fusarium Wilt. Perhaps that is what is hitting your tomatoes. If so there are resistant varieties.

Thanks for that advice. We have a couple things common to this area that most of us have to fight every year, anthracnose, bitter pit, white mold, a few others I can't think of off the top of my head. Copper treats most of them. So, I'm going to try giving heavy doses to my garden beds this year, while treating all surrounding areas. The problem is not only in the garden beds. It is part of the natural habitat here. Fighting it takes drastic and consistent treatment, including removing heavily infected trees and shrubs. I will have bitter pit in my apples every year because of their close proximity to the forest, but if I trim effected branches and haul them to the dump every year and treat with copper, I can control it. You can't even burn this stuff because that will spread it more.

Again, this is life in the rain forest, and it is a beautiful area. It will take time to get on top of it. We've only been here for 5 years and have been trying to figure this out for that long. I finally talked to a small local garden shop who explained all this to me last summer. So this year is war time, and hopefully next year we'll be able to grow some tomatoes.

There is a Master Gardener course at the local community college. I wanted to take it last year, but I was incapacitated with this stinking anemia that is coming back again this year. If the doctors can get on top of it this year, I'll take that class. I think they will be able to give great advice for our particular area.