It is mid September here in Colorado. We had some really cold weather last week, so cold I had to cover up my garden goodies two nights in a row. But this week it has been in the low 80’s and I am finding a few gems out in my backyard garden.
Finding gems.
Late summer is a time for that. I may think my pole beans are done, but I find a few more on the vine. And then I peek close to the ground and see a few last cucumbers. That one more ripe tomato makes me scream with delight. Am I being melodramatic? Yes, I am and I don’t care. A garden is worthy of drama.
If you are a gardener,
It’s August and those of us who garden might be encountering tomato blossom end rot. Yuk! What to do? As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I like to keep things simple. So here is what I do to battle this nasty disease.
If this is the case for you, never fear, the plant may still have time to produce some good fruit. Pick off this bad fruit and toss it. And then fertilize your plant with a fertilizer that is made for tomatoes. Why one for tomatoes? Because it will have just a tad more calcium than a fertilizer made for “all vegetables”. See this post of mine for what I use. I keep the fertilizing process very simple in my garden. First, I’m not a master gardener so keeping it simple works better for me. And, I have a very busy life with my full time job, caring for my mother and my volunteering gigs so “keeping it simple” is my garden way. Also I have a fairly small gardening budget so I can’t spent a lot on fertilizer (and some are very expensive).
So why is this blossom end rot occurring? I believe
The first time I ate a beet was 24 hours after I gave birth to my son Ryan by C-Section. It was my first meal. Beets were on the plate. Canned beets. And they were sooooooo good. About two weeks later I bought a can of sliced beets. And they were soooooo gross. I guess I was hungry that day in the hospital.
Fast forward to an evening in Vail, Colorado where my brother, my personal chef and my mother and I were on a get-away. My brother treated us to a fancy dinner and we ordered a roasted beet salad. “It tastes like the earth,” my brother remarked. This was a compliment of course because that salad was sooooooo good.
So I started to grow beets. And now I will never NOT grow them. Never ever. Keep reading for an easy recipe below.
Some pea plants grow 2 feet tall. Others grow 7-8 feet tall.
This year I had to get up on my tip toes to pick the pods off these vines. Crazy fun! I can’t tell you how much my garden has given me joy and hope. I remember when I used to have just 5-6 pots on my little deck in the city of Seattle. That gave me joy too. Watching something grow reminds us that we are meant for life, even when we are in the midst of experiencing death.
Colorado State University Extention
Colorado State University Extention
Yes, there are some veggies you can put in the ground as early as April. But others need to WAIT until the temperatures at night are 50 degrees or higher. Check out the link above for information on what can go in the ground AFTER the last frost date here in the Front Range. If you are like me and don’t want to check the weather forecast, just shoot for Mother’s Day, knowing that there is little chance of a freeze overnight. Little chance, but not impossible.
Believe me, I’ve made the mistake of putting in peppers FAR TOO EARLY. But that is what you have to be willing to do when you garden — BE WILLING TO MAKE MISTAKES.