More Storm Damage

Since my last post, we've had numerous storms with varying degrees of severity. When I went to the garden Saturday, it looked like the wind had just pushed the zucchini plant on the end over. I tried to straight it up as much as I could but I don't know how it'll make out. Some corn had also blown over and I tied them up as much as I could. I don't think they were severely damaged and they should be OK. The one corn stalk that blew over last week, however, looks like a lost cause.

We continue to have problems with our favorite beetle. They seem to infested the one tomato plant the most. I think this is because the branches are either on or close to the ground. I've tried to lift them as much as I can but the plant has grown in such a way that it extremely hard to get it off the ground. I sent an email to the U of Md and they said that this particular beetle is very difficult to get rid of because of it immunity to so many insecticides. The Sevin seems to help so I will continue to use it.

I got reports of vegetable thieves in the area. I don't know what we can do about it. I'm thinking of taking a spare Alarm Pro sign that I have and putting that in the garden. Hopefully, the thieves will be dumb enough to think I have the garden alarmed. I also want a to get a private property sign since the one thief said that he thought they were community gardens and anyone could just help themselves---a likely story if you ask me.

Mary and I have discussed investing in some row covers, if they're not too expensive, and that might hide the watermelons and cantaloupes. I seriously think if we don't do something that our watermelons will grow legs and we'll never eat a single one of them.

Yesterday, I staked the last of the tomatoes. I also tied up an eggplant and a pepper plant. I worked from about noon to 3PM. I was so tired when I finished, I could hardly move. The fruit on the tomato plant, the pepper plant and the eggplant were on the ground and there are several eggplants that are just about large enough to pick. I felt that I had to finish and I did. Hopefully, I won't have to spend another day like that there.

Mary has had her son and his family visiting from France and a brother-in-law visiting from out of state, so she has been really busy and not able to do much at the garden or anywhere else for that matter. She has been faithful about doing her share of the watering and we'll be working together in the garden again when her company leaves.

The tomatoes are starting to come in. I got 4 or 5 of them on each of my last two trips. The peppers are also starting to come in but they seem to be small in size. The first few peppers I had seemed to have thin walls. I hope the future ones are fleshier. A cantaloupe or two will soon be ripe enough to pick. For the most part, everything is starting to produce and we should be eating more than squash soon.