late blight again - the topic that just won't go away

As I clean up for next year, the Late Blight topic is coming up again. To bag and dispose or to compost?

There are two different camps out there:

Composters:
HortBlog
Gardener's Corner (Interesting last comment here where they recommend leaving the tomato plants to overwinter in the field as is so they will self-sow.)

Disposers:
Maryland Cooperative Extension
Dave's Garden
Cornell University Extension

I hate the idea of bagging and disposing, but I am in this camp. It is impossible to predict what our winter weather will be and harder yet to predict the conditions in the compost pile. So best to do what we can to avoid worse blight worse next year.

It seems to me reasons to compost are:
- you garden in a heavily infected community garden where many gardens will not be cleared and hence there is little chance of reducing the number of spores AND you have a reason not to try improve the situation anyway
- you got minimal Late Blight very late (September) and live in a cold area and feel the risks are low compered with the effort to dispose
- you plan to just forgo tomatoes and potatoes for a few years anyway
- you plan to spray all sorts of chemicals next year
- you don't care about potential spread from your garden to a nearby Organic Farmer

Regarding the last point, I just read this story about Old Path Farm, Utica NY (and there are lots of stories like this around). Late blight is an extremely destructive disease.

I am looking forward to our Seed Swap Day this Saturday, when Gretta Anderson, a local farmer from Shared Harvest CSA, will come and speak. Her topic will be "Late Blight: Sharing the collective experience of local organic growers this summer".

And here is a question left today on an earlier post on this blog:
I thought that the problem with the blight this year was that it came so early. Don't NE gardens usually get blight every year, but much later in the season (like, now?) If that's true, then there is no reason to worry about the disposal of the blighted plants at this point. The whole reason for burying them earlier was so that the blight couldn't affect your neighbor's (or your other) plants at their peak moment of the season. I am not an expert, that's just what I thought was the case from everything I read. Is that right? September 28, 2009 2:29 PM

I answered: I don't know. I thought the reason for disposal reason was to reduce the spores around next year. I am going to start a new post on this topic. Thanks for the question. September 28, 2009 3:22 PM

Please leave your opinion. Hopefully this topic will be gone next year and we won't have to belabor it ad infinitum.

today's seed sowing list

My planting calendar says to plant zinnias, cucumbers and pumpkins this week. I started some extra greens too.

Spinach, Bloomsdale, 1 6-pack
Lettuce, Valentine mix, 1 6-pack
Lettuce, Merveille 4 seasons, 1 6-pack
Zinnia, White Star, 4-pack
Zinnia, Bernary's Giant Purple 2 6-packs
Winter Squash, Lakota, 3 seeds
Pumpkin, Baby Pam, 6 seeds
Pumpkin, Big Rock, 3 seeds
Pumpkin, Jarrahdale, 3 seeds
Cucumber, North Carolina Pickling, 6-pack

I didn't finish, but will plant the following soon:
Cucumber, Diva, 6-pack
Cucumber, Straight 8, 6-pack
Cucumber, Tokiwa, 6-pack
Cucumber, Sweet Success, 6-pack

2009 sow-what-and-when

well I did get some peas planted ...

... but not the others yet (favas, potatoes and onions). I have a lot of business taking precedence... My priorities are all messed up. The others need to go in soon. But at least the peas have been planted.

I used branches this year to support my peas. I've read that the supports should go in when you plant the peas and not later. And I've heard that well branched trees like fruit trees make good pea supports. I used pruned branches from my crab apple tree.

I ran out of wooden row labels so I grabbed a plastic container from my recycling bin, cut it up and it worked great. One of my resolutions this year is to label my plants. Unlike last year.

Unfortunately, I must have lost focus mid planting and planted a row of Tall Telephone peas in the Wando area. So now my Wando's and Tall Telephone's will be mixed. Oh well. These are very similar - both 6 ft shell peas, so its OK. But I had wanted to compare them separately.

I planted one row each of Sugar Sprint (a 2 ft early sugar snap pea) and Wando, and two rows of Tall Telephone. I'll plant another row or two of each once these rows sprout. I like to try to space out the harvest a bit - at the risk of running into weather that's too hot for peas. Risky this year since I've started so late.

I also have a soup pea to plant soon - beautiful purple podded Capucijner peas.

I planted this year in my best pea bed: it warms up fast in the spring, then gets shaded by a big tree as the weather gets hot. In previous years, this spot has produced super well. But I've learned not to count the peas before they hatch....

2009 sow-what-and-when

planting surprise seeds

There's nothing like a good mystery.

A couple of weeks ago, Dan, a fellow garden blogger, sent me some seeds. We had arranged a trade. He sent me 6 Charentais melon seeds and 6 seeds each of two heirloom tomatoes (Hillbilly and Suddoth's strain Brandywine). I sent him 6 Delicata melon and 6 purple Calabash tomato seeds. BUT, in addition to the agreed on seeds, Dan added a package of SURPRISE seeds.

I have no idea what the surprise seeds are. They are small and round like cabbage or radish. And recently Dan told me I could plant them when I plant my broccoli. Those are the clues.

So, yesterday I planted them. I labeled them "SURPRISE". How fun. I'm really curious to see what sprouts.

Thanks again to Dan :)
surprise seeds
2009 sow-what-and-when

today's planting list

Heliotrope, Marine (1 pot)
Lettuce, Prizehead (4-pack)
Broccoli, Calabrese (4-pack)
Broccoli, Marathon F1 (4-pack)
Eggplant, Orient Express F1 (4-pack)

2009 sow-what-and-when

today's sowing list

Pepper, Amelia's Cayenne (6-pack)
Pepper, Thai hot (6-pack)
Pepper, Poblano (6-pack)
Pepper, Nardello sweet (6-pack)
Pepper, Costa Rican sweet (6-pack)
Pepper, Quadrato Rosso D'Asti sweet red (6-pack)
Pepper, Quadrato Giallo D'Asti sweet yellow (6-pack)
Beets, Chiogga (6-pack)
Marigold, Fireball
Marigold, Petit mix (4 pots)
Cosmos, sulphureus orange (4 pots)
Butterfly flower, asclepias tuberosa (4 pots)
Parsley, flat leaved Italian (8 pots)
Basil, Nufar (8 pots)

It feels good to be planting again!

I put the newly seeded peppers under my fish tank (78*F) to keep them warm until they sprout. The others are all on my plant shelves.

I have lots of little German Winter thyme seedlings now (sowed 2-21). And my early tomatoes are getting their first leaves. I have 5 New Girls, one Brandywine (Suddoth's Strain) and three Orange Blossom seedlings (planted (2-21). Today I spotted one little lavender and one little celeriac sprout, too. Hopefully more are on the way. My onion seedlings look great (planted 2-12). Germination was slow, but steady. Now I have good amounts of all three varieties I planted. So far so good!

2009 sow-what-and-when

real onions sprouts and more sowing

My onions finally sprouted. It took 8-9 days. Of the 3 varieties I planted, I have low germination of one (red), none in another (White Portugal), and good germination of the third (Sweet Yellow Spanish). Pretty little sprouts. So brave and bright!

Today I planted seeds for lavender, thyme and celeriac. These are supposed to be started 8-10 weeks before frost.

I also started 4 pots of tomato plants - very early, just to see if I can get a very early tomato. These will need to be transplanted to large pots long before they can go out to the garden, not something I can do for many plants. But I've read this works for others. Sure would be nice to have a real tomato soon!

I used my coarse planting soil in the bottom half of the cells and new fine soil at the top. The sun is very warm a bright as it shines in the window on my planting trays. At midday, I think its brighter than the lights. The lights extend the daylight hours though.

2009 sow-what-and-when