How Grows It

Decidedly mixed news in my growing efforts. My rabbit-gnawed maple is making a splendid comeback. I had to make a new enclosure for it because it was getting too big for the previous one. I’m not sure that a rabbit would eat it now that the leaves have fully opened, but I don’t want to take the chance. So now all I need is 30 years so I can have a real tree!

Now for the bad news. So far my herbs and vegetables aren’t doing so hot. My Thai basil seems to have given up the ghost. I think maybe it just got too cold. After all, Thailand is tropical! It was exposed to temps around 35 degrees or so, and it has gone steadily downhill since then. I have bought and planted a replacement.

Not so good, Al.

TB II

My grape tomato plant started getting brown spots on the leaves that have slowly spread up the plant. It actually has two tiny tomatoes on it right now, but the brownness continues to spread. My best guess as to what’s going on is that it’s some type of soil-borne disease. All the tomato stuff I’ve read says that you have to be careful not to water so that dirt splashes up onto the leaves, and not to get the leaves wet when you water. The week after I planted it there were extremely heavy rains for a couple of days. Like 3 inches worth of rain. I think the leaves may have been splashed up from the soil during the heavy rains. (update: I wrote this post at work (no way!), and after examining the plant while taking photos I’m thinking maybe it’s in better shape than I thought.)

Tiny tomatoes!

I looked for a replacement grape tomato plant, but there were no more at the store where I purchased the original. So I ended up buying a cherry tomato plant. I don’t like cherry tomatoes as much as grape tomatoes, but they’re better than no tomatoes. So far it looks OK.

I thought for a while that my pepper plant would be OK. It even has a couple of tiny peppers starting to form on it. But the last few days the leaves have been looking kind of yellow and droopy, so I’m starting to worry about it. I’m hoping the warmer weather will perk it up a bit.

It ain’t easy being a farmer!