The weekend was rainy. I had a lot to do. I spent most of my time taking care of the flower beds and the front of the house. When I finally got to the garden I found a mess. I remove a bunch of tomatoes and my vine crops. I picked tomatoes and picked tomatoes and picked tomatoes. To the point, I didn't know what to do with them. I have more spaghetti sauce then a man needs. So... I made ketchup/barbecue sauce and tomato juice for 'Bloody Marys'.
The tomato juice is outstanding, salted up to be cut with some vodka (in about an hour!). The barbecue sauce is brown sugar and apple vinegar based. I made a lot! I kept it pretty basic so I could use it in different ways over time. Everything I made is actually cooling as I type. I took plenty of pictures and will put up the process and recipes this week.
In my garden I found leaf spot to the left of me and leaf spot to the right. Perfect weather and temperature again. Maryland is cursed. I actually slacked on the sulfur spray for about 17 days. And you know what? Now I know wettable sulfur spray works. Like I said I removed spent tomato plants and other vegetables. I didn't get to planting anything new yet. Which might haunt me if I don't get some stuff in soon. I pruned back some healthy tomatoes and sprayed them down and filled nine bags with refuse.
Whiteflies again! I touched the kale and was literally covered in 100's of whiteflies. I cut my kale to a stem and threw away the whitefly covered leaves. Anyone have a cure for them? I tried everything last year. This year they came in May? It cut my kale back and that worked. I hope it works again. There are no breaks for gardeners. Ever! Miss a week and your garden will have a disease, infestation, or weed explosion.
Speaking of spent tomatoes....I am wondering if my Purple Cherokee is an indeterminate or determinate. I thought they were indeterminate but it seems like they produced all at once and are done. To pull, or not to pull...that is the question. I consider myself a beginner gardener, so I'm always learning. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteThey are billed as indeterminate. How do the leaves and plant look in general? I think what happens is the heat and tomato production change up the plants growth. A lot of energy goes to making the tomatoes. Heat can also prevent new flowers from forming tomatoes. I have a purple cherokee in a container. It has slowed production and growth. It produced a lot and looks a bit flat. You can prune back ugly yellow growth, pick any small looking tomatoes, and give it a boost of liquid fertilizer. That make get more production out of it. At this point don't prune suckers or new growth, just yellow or bad looking leaves.
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