There's good, bad, and ugly here this year. Let's start with the bad and ugly. First, I've had a fungal tomato blight named Septoria Leaf Spot on my tomatoes for the past several years. It damages the leaves and stems of the plant, but fortunately leaves the fruit alone. Still, it seems to me the yield per plant has diminished since my garden soil got this stuff. You can minimize this with sprays, etc., but IMO the purpose of a home garden is to get a way from all that crap. There are several ways you can try to eliminate this fungus from the soil. First, you must rotate your tomatoes from one spot in the garden to another. I always do that anyway. Second, do not plow under dead plants, tomatoes, etc. I never do that. There is only one other thing to do, but it is a bit more drastic. Don't plant tomatoes for several years! Different sites I've checked on this give different times, but 2-3 years seems to pop up the most often. This year I decided to cheat the solution, by planting tomatoes in buckets, using and mix of soil from the woods near my house and potting soil. I tried both buckets and pails.
Both work, and no leaf spot! There are two negatives, however. You have to water every day, and the fruit is small. I don't know if the small fruit is due to the buckets or the weather. Others by me are also complaining about small tomatoes. Time will tell if I get a good tail-end crop or not.
My peppers are doing fine. In addition to normal bell peppers, this year I grew NuMex Black Hungarian,
and NuMex Black Cuban Peppers:
Now for the good. I have a bumper crop of Serranos this year. I've been growing them for the past three years, but this year the hot, dry summer was apparently perfect for them.
I'm drying some right now. I might make a powder out of them for the base of a pepper rub. I'll also make some hot pepper sauce next month.
In all, it's a mixed bag this year so far for my garden. If my tomatoes turn around, I'll do the same next year and cross my fingers that that nasty leaf spot fungus will be forever gone!
My peppers are doing fine. In addition to normal bell peppers, this year I grew NuMex Black Hungarian,
and NuMex Black Cuban Peppers:
Now for the good. I have a bumper crop of Serranos this year. I've been growing them for the past three years, but this year the hot, dry summer was apparently perfect for them.
I'm drying some right now. I might make a powder out of them for the base of a pepper rub. I'll also make some hot pepper sauce next month.In all, it's a mixed bag this year so far for my garden. If my tomatoes turn around, I'll do the same next year and cross my fingers that that nasty leaf spot fungus will be forever gone!
There's good, bad, and ugly here this year. Let's start with the bad. First, I've had a fungal tomato blight named Septoria Leaf Spot on may tomatoes for the past several years. You can minimize this with sprays, etc., but the purpose of a home garden is to get a way from all that crap. There are several ways you can try to eliminate this fungus from the soil. First, you must rotate your tomatoes from one spot in the garden to another. I always do that anyway. Second, do not plow under dead plants, tomatoes, etc. I don't do that, either. There is only one other thing to do, but it is a bit more drastic. Don't plant tomatoes for several years! Different sites I've checked on this give different times, but 2-3 years seems to pop up the most often. This year I decided to cheat the solution, by planting tomatoes in buckets, using and mix of soil from the woods near my house and potting soil. I tried both buckets and pails.
I have lots of hot cayenne peppers and would like to preserve/dry some. Where can I learn about how to do that?
You never told me that's why you planted the tomatoes in the buckets. That's really smart.