New England Gardener

Went out to the garden (da-da-da-da-DA)
In search of a treat
But instead of tomatoes
I’ve got fungus to eat
I’ve got the Summer of 09, Late Blight Tomato Blues
And it’s bringin’ me down….

I’ve tried to move on. Really. I have. But the truth is I mourn the loss of my tomatoes every time I walk in the garden. There may be gardeners who love their vegetables equally. I’m not one of them. Tomatoes are the reason I grow a garden. All that other green stuff is just there to keep the tomatoes company.

And this Late Blight outbreak pushed me to do something I’m not proud of–purchase a non-organic product. Let me explain. I do most of my growing at my community garden which is strictly organic, but I had a few straggly leftover seedlings that were on their way to the compost pile. You know how gardeners hate to throw away plants, so at the last minute I stuck them in an old apple barrel planter in my driveway. I pretty much ignored them all summer UNTIL, I lost all my other tomato plants. Suddenly, those two plants became my only hope for home grown tomatoes.
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Filed under: Just Add Water Project | Organic | Vegetables

Blight, Black Rot,and Mildew all threatened to crash 2009’s garden party, but as I look around the community garden here in Maine, I see there are many more successes than failures. The corn has overcome its late start. The cukes and squashes are producing right on schedule. Lettuces are delicious and abundant. In other words, there’s more than enough to fill out a salad bowl.

As gardeners, we must learn from the farmer’s optimism and work with what Mother Nature has delivered. Yes, I did have to pull my blight-ridden tomatoes, but now I’m looking forward to a bumper crop of bush beans. After I yanked the tomatoes last week, I threw in some bush bean seeds and the seedlings burst from the soil yesterday, determined to deliver a crop before the frost hits.
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Filed under: Flowers | Vegetables

Question:
We have a clean slate on the front and side of out house. What kind of foundation plantings do you recommend? We live right outside Boston MA.
Thanks! Julia
Answer:
Hi Julia

Driving around New England this August makes me think of how little I know about all the variety of flowering plants, shrubs , and trees available to us. The July rain may have hurt the tomatoes, but the August flowers are brilliant!
At my home, we have the traditional New England Favorites. Hydrangea and Roses are a must. Daylili, Black Eyed Susan’s, Azalea, and Oregano are all over the place. Iris and Gladiolus bloom in June. Rose of Sharon are in bloom right now. Ornamental Grasses are easy to grow, a bit tough to cut back though. You will learn that burning bushes are invasive species, and no longer sold in New England. But the Blueberry Bush has a similar color to Burning Bush, and you can have your own family berry picking days. Another one in bloom now is the Butterfly Plant (attracts butterfly’s). In the fall you can put some tulip and daffodil bulbs in for bloom in early spring. When you shop, there is no need to get real big plants. You can start with cheaper small plants, then with pruning and feeding, they will grow fast. Be sure to put them in the ground 3 or 4 feet from the foundation, that space will fill within a few years. Then prune the plants so they do not touch the house.
Enjoy creating your new garden, a never ending project

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Filed under: Ask The Garden Team

I don’t want to gloat, but those of us on vacation in early August really hit the weather jackpot this year! The last two weeks have been glorious.

Like many New Englanders, my family spends part of every summer at a small “camp.” If I were sensible, I’d forego gardening at a place where we spend just a few long weekends and a week in August, but I’m a gardener and I can’t relax without having at least a few plants to fuss over. That said, vacation home gardens must fend for themselves most of the time. Through trial and error, I’ve learned what plants are up to the challenge in our windy oceanfront location.

When it comes to perennials, Hostas, DayLilies, and Rudbeckia can’t be beat. I’ve also had very good luck with Astilbe and Delphiniums, but I put them in a spot where they’re guaranteed shade for at least a few hours a day. In fact, I don’t grow anything, besides a few ancient Rhubarbs, on the side of the house that gets sun all day long.
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Filed under: Flowers

We finally have some nice dahlias in the garden and I wanted to share some pictures with you! They are beautiful…but overall the season has been a disappointment. Several of our plants have no buds on them….it looks like a bug has been eating them. I have sprayed them with no success. And, I have yet to see an actual bug on the plants. I am stumped. I have included a photo of one of the distressed dahlias at the bottom of this post.

I estimate that only about a third of the dahlias we planted have bloomed. In past years, I have always had a vase full of flowers on my desk at work in August. Not this year! It has definitely been a difficult summer with all of the rain and the lack of sunshine. I’ve also been dealing with rotting rosebuds and rose bushes that have black spots.

I hold out hope that more of the dahlias will bloom in the next month or so. They usually last through October. I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping for some dry, hot days. I’ll continue to give them lots of tender loving care!

Filed under: Flowers | Photos

Hi Gardeners,
Sorry for my absence from our virtual community garden. I was on vacation in…Egads!…a place without internet access. More on that later, but I wanted to pass along the latest Pest Report from MOFGA on Late Blight.

LATE BLIGHT
What to do with a field infected with late blight
[Reprinted and modified a bit from an article by Becky Grube Sideman, UNH
Cooperative Extension, Sustainable Horticulture Specialist]

Late blight is now in potato and tomato fields throughout the state. From
what I have heard, those using preventative fungicide programs have kept
the disease at bay thus far, but many who did not apply fungicides are
having fields go down. Once symptoms are widespread in the field, it is the
time to cut your losses and kill the plants to prevent the disease from
spreading into other fields or high tunnels. For tomatoes, this will mean a
crop loss. For potatoes, however, it may still be possible to get a decent
crop.

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Filed under: Vegetables