One-of-a-Kind Recycled Home D cor
Check out the most interesting homemade home d cor made by the independent artists and artisans of Etsy.com.
How to Fight Late Blight on Tomatoes Organically
It’s a major challenge, all right, but after losing all the tomatoes in New York, we’re trying to see if at least one of the Maine tomato patches can fight off late blight (Phytopthera infestans), one of the most devastating vegetable diseases. It’s the one that led to the Irish potato famine and it’s just as deadly almost two centuries later. P. infestans is always around, but it came early this year, and more ferociously than ever before. Farmers and home gardeners from Maine to South Carolina — and quite a way west — have already lost their crops to what has turned out to be the most widespread outbreak in U.S. history. If you see any signs of late blight, experts advise destroying all infected plants at once, to stop the spread of spores. And if you live in an area where there are gardens or farms that have not yet been hit that is the advice to take; late blight is highly contagious. But if everyone else already has it and yours is the garden that’s hanging in, you might as well join us in employing: The Organic Gardener’s Arsenal: Fungicide Fertilizer Being There Being Careful Being Realistic And — at least in our case — Being a Procrastinator. If I’d done all the tomato grafting I’d planned to do, there wouldn’t have been any leftovers in the greenhouse. Luckily, the tomato plants in the greenhouse (pictured) have so far escaped the blight. * The Fungicide we’re using is Serenade, available at well stocked garden centers or online at suppliers like Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. It’s approved for organic gardening and is a fairly effective prophylactic as long as it’s applied frequently. Late blight can’t be cured, and if it’s well established it can’t be stopped. But if it hasn’t yet taken hold it can be held at bay by Bacillus subtilis, the “good” bacteria that is Serenade’s active ingredient.
