September 21, 2017

Good morning,  how funny it is but I am finally getting fruit set on my tomatoes. I guess it all depends on how warm of a fall we have as to whether these tomatoes mature. With luck they will be able to be harvested and let to ripen over the course of a few months. I am clueless as to why it has taken them so long to come into bloom and fruit set. They have had sporadic blooms but nothing "to write home about". Just one more thing for a weird year.

I was planning to graft my favorite toms on root knot nematode resistant root stock but I am going to hone my grafting skills first. The root stock is fairly speedy,  so I think practicing on saved seeds is the prudent  way to go.

I am going to just grow RKN resistant hybrids next year. Some will be determinate  and a couple will be indeterminate. I want to see what does better to get through the usual hot dry period that we get just before the rains start. I had stopped growing indeterminate's after the big drought of 2011. Back then I was hand watering, now I have a drip system. Like always these plants will be set out early so they will not be staked.

This will be interesting.

Funny that I did find a web site that talked about RKN resistant okra. A paper I was reading was talking about  a study in the south. This was baiting me. The varieties had very unusual names and the shipping costs were huge like $50 for a handful of seeds. Further reading noted Southern India. I have not found any studies concerning RKN and okra in the US. Maybe there is one , I just have not found it or I am not using the right search words.

Even with rampant RKN in the garden I have had decent harvests. it really comes down to adapting to the hand of cards I was dealt. Ah yes if agriculture was easy everyone would be doing it..

This week I harvested chard, some kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, beets, beans, peas, eggplants, okra  cucumbers, squash, chilies and in storage onions, butternuts and sweet potatoes. Please email as to availability.

It must be noted that the okra, cucumbers and squash have slowed dramatically.  I am hoping they will last to the first freeze. It does not look favorable.