woe is me. my sickly plants.

We're feeling the acute effects of inexperience. Our once healthy squash plants that were producing prolifically now seem to be slipping away. It pains me to see them suffering as a result of our limited knowledge of the infinite number of garden diseases. Damn the lot of them! Stunted growth, yellowing leaves and (gasp!) moldy fruits now characterize the sad plants. Not to mention the cucumbers also seem to be suffering from the same disease.

Diseases, I'm told, affect plant "families". So one disease that effects squash can also affect the cucumbers and pumpkins. The late blight epidemic of the northeast this season that wiped out many-a-promising tomato and potato plant on this side of the country due to all the tropical-like rain we've been having acted in exactly that way.

I've been trying to narrow in on the disease, and this is what it's come down to:

Powdery mildew, angular leaf spot, scab, Alternaria leaf blight (fungal diseases): Manifest themselves in the form of spots bloches and brown areas on squash leaves. My internet searching says to keep foliage dry when watering and to not touch the plants when wet. Seeing as how much rain we've been getting (another storm has been haunting us for the past four days and will continue through the weekend) this is a likely possibility. It is reccommended to spray infected plants with a dilute solution of copper spray to reduce the spread of the disease. (doesn't seem very "sustainable", but then again my naive concept of sustainable gardening shoves all added ingredients beyond compost and other simple, recognizable things out of the picture.)

Aphids.:Causes yellowing and wilting of leaves. Bugs are small, green, pink, gray, black, or white fluffy-coated, soft-bodied insects which transmit viral diseases. Control aphids by knocking them off the plants with a strong blast of water. (Too bad we don't have a hose...) Prevent problems by using a foil mulch.
Yes, my leaves are wilting and yellow, but I haven't seen bugs. Then again, I haven't looked THAT close.

Mosaic. Also manifests itself in the form of yellowing leaves. What a coincidence. How am I supposed to tell what is what? Can also cause deformed, mottled fruits. It is reccommended to remove and destroy diseased plants, control aphids and cucumber beetles that spead it (do we have nasty bugs lurking among our beloved?), plant tolerant cultivars (will research, but genetically-modifed crops are not an option for us. opposed on moral grounds), and practice crop rotation (will do).

Enough wallowing. I'm going to be constructive here. As we hope that the garden will be a permanent installment at F&M, it is not only important for us to enjoy and learn from this amazing experience, but to make sure to pass our knowledge along to those who will inherit the garden after us and to the broader community. And now for a few simple reccommendations:

• Do not plant the African Marigold from Seeds of Change unless you want a nice invasive hedge. Yes, marigolds are a great companion for tomatoes, but not when they're 5 feet tall and overwhelming. I spent my time today thinning them out, for I fear they are competing with the tomatoes for sunlight and nutrients. Experienmentation with seed varieties is great, but we reccommend going small with marigolds.
• start eggplant indoors. We planted the seeds right in the soil even though the seed packet did say to start indoors. They didn't grow.
• don't be afraid to thin the plants. So every plant doesn't realize their full potential; it'll give the ones you do keep a fighting chance, plus they're always a welcome addition to the compost pile.
• use mulch between the rows! It'll keep the weeds down and make your life a whole lot easier. We learned the hard way.
• Be wary when planting the Amish nuttle bean from Happy Cat Farms. It didn't grow for us. We planted them in two different plots one month apart and neither sprouted.
• Happy Cat Farm seed packets are sometimes misleading, so be careful. the Lancaster Brown Bush Bean is actually vining bean. A new trellis is in order.
• give squash, watermelon, pumpkins, and the like adequate room!

Ok, so even though we had our fair share of mistakes, the garden isn't TOTALLY dead, contrary to what you may be thinking now based on my previous rantings. I just harvested about 2 pounds of various tomatoes, 3 zucchini (perhaps the last though, if the plants die), 2 cucumber, 6 beets, 2 onions, 1 watermelon (our first of the season!), a handful of green beans, and 3 green bell peppers. Now I must go about finding what to do with all this food!

A Culinary Escapade

What to do when you're cooped up inside on account of the rain? extravagant cooking! I see my interest in cooking as a continuation of my interest in gardening. Its the next step in nutrient cycling: soil to plant to tummy to compost to plant. (ok, so we don't compost human waste, but we do compost food scraps). Taking the time to cook, thinking about what you're cooking, and thinking about where it's from enhances your appreciation for the food, for the farmer, and for mother nature. It transformes it from just another meal into nourishment and life! Plus you just appreciate a meal way more if you've spent the time to make it.

To continue my homesteading-esque summer adventures, I tried my hand at jam-making last night. Freezer jam to be specific. I got me a box of that weird white fruit pectin stuff and simply followed the instructions.

ingredients:
3 cups mashed berries (in my case black raspberries from Eastern Market)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
5 1/4 cup sugar (organic! yay)
3/4 cup water
1 packet of fruit pectin

directions:
1) Combine fruit mash with lemon and sugar. mix thoroughly and let stand for 10 minutes.
2)Combine water and fruit pectin in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil for 1 minute.
3) Add pectin mixture to fruit mixture and stir for 3 minutes.
4) Ladle into designated containers, leaving 1/2 inch headspace for expansion. Lasts for 3 weeks in the fridge and up to a year in the freezer (they say. I haven't proven this yet)

I read online about one lady who just uses apple peel instead of fruit pectin because store bought fruit pectin is made of apples anyways. Next time I'm going to try this. It would further my independence from processed, industrial, "food-like substances" as Michael Pollan would say.

I thought i'd also take a moment to share my wonderful dinner with you too. It was just too delicious. Just a simple, local summer salad, but my tummy thanked me.

spinach (from market), cucumber (ok, i confess. I don't know where it was from, but it was organic if thats any consolation), black raspberries (from market). Topped of with a Honey-Lemon Dressing I found on one of my new favorite food blogs: http://thebittenword.typepad.com/.

Honey-Lemon Dressing

Ingredients

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon honey (local raw honey from Eastern Market!)
1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme (from ze garden)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice with the lemon zest, honey and thyme. Whisk in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Et voila!

I feel like a floundering amateur AND thoughts on what to do with the fruits of our labor

July 1st already. I wish summer could last forever, yet fall is looming up ahead. I think its a sign if fall vegetables not yet planted are popping up in my dreams. In hopes of banishing unborn beets and broccoli from my sleep, I ordered my fall seeds today: beets (I confess. I'm obsessed with them. yummmm. beet salad), spinach, broccoli, broccoli raab, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, endive, carrots, arugula, cress, sorrel, and beetberry (it looked intriguing. berries AND greens! Maybe its also because the word "beet" is in it). The only problem is where to plant them. Our summer harvest won't be done before we have to plant the fall crops...Do we sow the seeds where our summer crops are right now? Will they magically know to germinate after we harvest? We do have more garden space from the unused community garden plots where we could plant. Reminder to self: read up on fall gardening, extending the harvest, and cover crops (vetch and winter rye? austrian winter pea and oats?)

On a COMPLETELY different note, I took a wonderful trip to eastern market last week. Its about twice as far from my apartment, but totally worth it. Doug, a 2009 graduate, is now the head honcho there. a.k.a. the market manager. When i visited the market I had a nice conversation about the garden with him. He even offered to let us have a stand at market to sell our produce. Another farmer chimed in and said we should, at least to earn what we spend on seeds. Doug said that the customers are very supportive of budding gardeners. Last year there was a school garden that would always sell out. I expressed worry about how much we would actually produce, but Doug said it didn't matter, we can come when we want, even if we only have 10 carrots (I conveniently failed to mention to him that my attempt at planting carrots in the spring had failed.) I think selling our produce there would be such a wonderful opportunity for us to get to know local farmers and let Lancaster know who we are. So come on vegetables! Grow!

I love Eastern Market! I always find weird and interesting foodage to try (like last week: yellow

squash flowers. I sauteed with olive oil and flavored with salt and pepper. delicious!) Plus,

everyone is extremely nice. One farmer was so eager on helping us with the garden, he even offered to drive his rototiller over to our garden if we needed it. And he gives me cheap

vegetables. Definitely smaller than Central Market, but a much more pleasant atmosphere for shopping and fostering community.

berries from market: