It appears that Americans are gardening more now than they have in the past 10 years. (This is according to a survey conducted and published in the journal Random Musings, Vol. 1, issue 1.) What are we all growing? I think that it’s safe to say that most people are keen to grow their own tomatoes, and I am no exception. I have been wondering what varieties to try.

Last year tomato growers up and down the East Coast of the US suffered mightily by excessively wet weather that led to a tomato disease called BLIGHT.  There are two types: EARLY and LATE. And the name of the this plant disease is pretty misleading. The blights are not the same fungus, but actually two different ones.  Either way, EARLY and LATE BLIGHT are bigtime plant killers that affect both potatoes and tomatoes.

I anticipate that BLIGHT will come again this year. Why? Because it is necessary to take certain garden sanitary precautions to prevent its return. With all the novice tomato growers out there, they are unlikely to bother. If they don’t their ground will harbor blight spores. Which are airborne.

So to protect my crops, I’m looking into preventative measures. For one thing, healthy soil with good drainage. Another is to plant my tomatoes in the sunniest locations available to me.  Finally, I aim to clean out my garden beds and mulch with fresh mulch.  As a last resort, there are organic copper-based anti-fungal sprays which can also protect plants from the blight.

The blight sounds serious and it is serious. Apparently, the great potato famine in Ireland was caused by this wide-spreading destructive fungal infection, as it affects both potatoes and tomatoes alike. Growers beware!

So delightful is the warmer spring air,

as it slips through and under every little gap,

so bright and cheery are

the yellow crocuses in the garden,

the honey yellow  sunshine with its friendly fingers,

the tulips poking through,

their tops are green curled with life and tinged with red like

fingernails they scooped through the ground,

and me with my piles of things

like housework (gah!)

or yardwork (mmmm)

and pausing casually to read

the seed catalogs in the mail.