Early Morning Copper Spraying
I left the house at 4:45 AM so I could start copper fungicide spraying right as the light came in. I always have a plan, and today I began in PP, B40, and RRR because those plots get light first.
Once the sun rose, I moved to the Learning Plot, which stays shaded until about 8 AM. I avoid spraying copper in harsh sun — even at my lightest dose (1 tablespoon per gallon) the plants can burn in our 90°F weather.
Weather:
Low: 73°F
High: 89°F (cool for July!)
Mostly sunny with some clouds
With this heat and humidity, the tomatoes are starting to show symptoms of Septoria, early blight, or Alternaria. Copper should stop the spread and kill spores on the leaves.
I also sprayed the peppers and eggplants in the Learning Plot, then went back to my 3 Amigos gardens to hit them before it got too hot. I finished spraying at 6:30 AM..
Watering & Learning Plot Work
Since the Learning Plot was still shaded, I watered all the mounds I planted on Saturday. That plot has been a huge project — after the trip, half of it died from neglect and too much water, so I decided on a full mulligan.
Scalping & Tilling
I scalped the plot using my weed whacker, angling it to cut weeds at soil level. It took several days because the weeds were thick and my battery kept dying.
A friend donated the community tiller (it wouldn’t start), and I had a tinkerer in the gardens and for fixing it, I traded him tomato plants, ginger, and Bocking 14. Turns out it only needed cleaning, an oil change, and a $5 part. It chomped through the soil beautifully. I asked Gerald to till it again with his tiller and he did, but afterwards he said I did such a good job it didn’t really need it. I was happy with the second tilling as it was what I needed — a finer crumb to make my mounds.
Planting
I made 15 individual mounds, each 18 inches in diameter, using an old tomato cage as my template.
I also made one hilled row for the sunflowers.
The dill is scattered loosely in front of the mound on normal soil — not on a mound or ridge.
I planted:
3 yellow squash
3 zucchini
6 pickling cucumbers
3 sugar baby watermelons
sunflowers (in the hilled row)
dill (scattered on flat soil)
One tomato had purple leaves, which Google says is a phosphorus issue. I sprinkled 1 tablespoon bone meal and watered it in.
Fence Removal
I knocked out one of my To‑Dos: removing the north fence. My neighbor already has a fence, and the 1‑foot gap between them was full of 3‑foot weeds. I tore out the black plastic fence and re‑rolled it for future use. The Learning Plot looks much better now.
Back to the Main Plots
I checked off a few more To‑Dos:
Fed horseradish with 1 tablespoon blood meal
Gave 8‑24‑24 to the tomato transplants (they’re blooming and I spotted a baby tomato!)
India cucumbers and Armenian cucumbers are germinating
Almost everything got watered — anything missed will be hit tomorrow before documents
Harvest
I picked:
tomatoes
okra
Chinese beans
I gave most to Rudy and left him a message. He later called and said he already ate one of the tomatoes for lunch. I also have enough tomatoes and okra for the church drive‑thru food pantry.
It feels good to feed a partner recovering from hip surgery, the church, and our family.
Conversations in the Garden
Today I talked to a couple of gardeners. One comes early in the morning before he goes to work. He’s a new gardener, and we talked shop for a bit. I told him that my first year we hardly had anything from that first harvest. For me the 3 sisters did not work, my tomato plants died, and it’s amazing I still wanted to garden after all those failures. Like we said — we trial and learn.
The next gardener is a seasoned gardener. She has been here at least 15 years. I told her I sprayed copper fungicide today, and we talked about the tomato problems everyone is seeing. I said that even though baking soda can help slow down Septoria and early blight, it won’t stop it like copper fungicide. She wanted to know where I bought mine, but I couldn’t remember since it was last year. Don’t worry — I checked to make sure it was still good, and it was. I don’t have too much left, and since I have to pick up BT, I’ll stock up on copper fungicide too.
Still on Nancy’s To‑Do List
Feed ginger plants
Sort tomato cages that are in the storage area
Keep 28 cages and prep old cage area for fall turnip patch
Spinosad on eggplants
Assess tomatillos — they look unhealthy again (same issue as last year, possibly heat‑related)
Prepare new tomato holes with the 12‑inch gas tiller
Monitor horseradish color and growth
Start hardening off tomatoes on the germination cart
Give 8‑24‑24 to other veggies that are starting to produce
Tomorrow’s Plan
Tomorrow will be a short day as I usually don’t come on Tuesday, but when direct sowing, watering needs to be done daily until they sprout.