According to the weather report, today is supposed to be 100°F, with a low of 75°F. After today we will be back in our normal range of low to mid‑90s, with lows in the low 70s. Okay, it is still hot, but for me it’s more manageable. From predawn to 10:30 a.m. I was doing great energy‑wise. At predawn I gathered my tools—scissors, paper towels, 70% rubbing alcohol, and a 5‑gallon bucket. This is all I need to trim off the little bit of early blight. I need to backtrack a little, as in my last post I mentioned I couldn’t spray my preventative sprays—copper fungicide, BT, and Spinosad—as I need temperatures below 74.
That wasn’t actually true. Copper fungicide can burn leaves above 85°F, and Spinosad and BT don’t have a specific temperature, though early morning or evening is best. I made up my rules because Tennessee heats up fast. So I go with 80°F and below, and I spray at predawn. With all my new rules, it was actually a perfect day yesterday to spray, with the low of 74°F and cloudy.
I did all three in rounds. I started with copper fungicide, and that generally went on all the veggies except basil. Each time I had to drive over to the Learning Plot for the round. I was done with all three by 7:30 a.m., and the temperature was 76°F. By doing the sprays in rounds, each spray had a chance to dry before applying the next round. The BT and Spinosad were veggie‑specific, or should I say if bugs were spotted, they got sprayed. With these, I didn’t need to spray the tomatoes, so that saved me time.
That is why I was able to trim the early blight off, as the plant is protected when I cut the blight off. I did take precautions with wiping my scissors after each cut with the rubbing alcohol.
Once done, I was ready for working on my next task, which was weeding the eggplant and pepper rows. With running several gardens by myself, some things get put on the back burner as I think they are doing okay. It is not until my eggplants started dying that I focused on that bed. Our last rain was maybe a half inch over 10 days ago. But with my clayish mulched soil and all the humidity, that bed full of weeds just wasn’t drying out. I didn’t really check for moisture as it was near 100°F every day, so dry, right? Negative.
I was drowning them with watering, and I know I killed one eggplant, and the other two are hanging on by a leaf or two. Again, I used my scissors to cut the weeds at soil level, as peppers and eggplants have a lot of surface roots. This way I won’t damage them. I pulled most of the others that were outside of their cages, where I think their roots wouldn’t reach.
I forgot to take a photo of the before. But trust me, some of those weeds were several feet tall. In this shot you can see my wheelbarrow full of weeds and the peppers and eggplants looking much better. To the left you can see the jungle of weeds—that’s my blueberry and strawberry bed. The babies are doing fine, and they will be weeded soon.
After the weeding I had two small tasks left before checking the Learning Plot before leaving. The last two were watering the calendula and Blue Lake pole beans and harvesting. Everything else I checked with my moisture meter and was doing okay. While watering the Blue Lake pole beans I saw a velvet ant crawling near the raised bed. No, I didn’t think to kill it; I let it crawl to safety. I wonder if Fredericus the tree frog eats velvet ants.
Yes, I picked okra, but I also picked a new veggie—my India cucumbers—as well as a couple of small tomatoes. The India cucumbers are cooking cucumbers. I remember when my friends from the gardens gave me some last year; I made an India dish using the cooking cucumbers. I will have to see if I saved the recipe. If I find it, I will share it. I saved the seeds, and now it is producing.
While driving to the Learning Plot I ran into James the tiller tinkerer and offered him one. He gladly took it and plans to cook it. He also told me all the things he has been cooking with his fruits and veggies—muscadine grape cobbler and refrigerated pickled hot peppers. We had a good chin wag.
I stopped at the Learning Plot, and it too didn’t need watering. I had my duct tape ready but didn’t find any squash bug eggs, which is good. I noted that the pumpkin watermelons were larger, and I spotted at least three zucchinis. This is progress, as my other zucchinis all got vine borers and never had the chance to produce. Fingers crossed. With everything ticked off my to‑do list I was ready to head home with my basket full of produce. Tomorrow I have a new to‑do list. I think these lists form in my dreams. Till tomorrow—keeping it real in the pickle patch.