I know that I sound like a broken record - but it's always something in the garden. Yesterday it was a one-two punch - a quick run into the high 90s, followed by a pretty scary blast of wind, followed by just  trace of rain.  So, so strange.

Murphy's law - if you get the garden in tip-top shape, something comes along quickly to change things - and "tip" is the key word. First, there was the impact of the heat on my plants; despite an early morning watering, they looked pretty rough by mid afternoon, and there is some upper foliage damage on a few. Then, the first blast of wind came in and essentially tipped over all of the small pot indeterminates, and severely bent over most of the Dwarf tomatoes.

It is nothing that can't be, if not fixed, improved....I just came in from a deep watering and stake and pot adjustment session. But it isn't as pretty as it was yesterday morning at this time.  It is also a reminder of the challenge to keep things in order over the coming months. And, yes, further signs of disease are showing up. 

How did you all fare with the unexpectedly harsh squall?

Just some brief catch-all topics for today.  

About that rain - uncle!  uncle!  let's have a few days to dry out (which may be all we get, since severe Thunderstorms are due Thursday).  Perhaps tomorrow I hope to feed all of the plants, since with all of the wash-through, there is probably significant nutrient leach from the soil in the pots and bags....and the plants are at a point where I want to keep them happy, loading up with future harvest. A quick look today showed that most everything is setting fruit.

....and lots of water and humidity, and now heat, combined with rapidly growing plants, spell potential trouble. A few plants are showing early signs of Fusarium wilt; John Baer and Hugh's, especially, but a few others are struggling just a bit. Deaton's Dwarf, Lucky Swirl, Kangaroo Paw Yellow, an Ivalde potato leaf 12-142, Italian Heirloom, the Carrot-foliaged oddity from Dwarf Kelly Green all have me a bit concerned. I've pulled back ups for all of them and will be settling them into grow bags or pots tomorrow. Finally, Bisignano #2 looks a bit off - healthy, but showing nearly determinate growth. So, a back up for it will be readied as well. I ordinarily wouldn't fret so much, but between the Dwarf Project and photography/varieties for the book, I am being extra vigilant.

And finally, Tomatopalooza.  We've had ten wonderful events....and it is time to take a year off. There are many reasons; unavailability of most of those who worked on it in the recent past, a need to reevaluate the event, what it means and how to take it forward, and the biggest issue of all - ensuring a reliable tomato supply without depending upon any single or very few people. And so, yes, Tomatopalooza 2013 is cancelled.

Here comes the humidity and heat. Somehow, the garden dealt pretty well with all of that rain received late last week. The bean row was pretty well washed out and, once things (if things?) dry out, I will give it another go. I spent all of Saturday tending the tomatoes and peppers, as they all needed the next level of tying; I went through a lot of sisal twine. I also had the chance to examine overall plant health, and was not surprised to see the beginnings of trouble here and there. Warmth, water and humidity bring out the best (rapid growth) and worst (disease) on tomato plants, and some lower yellowing and/or spotted foliage indicated Early Blight is starting to appear on certain plants. The upside of growing so many plants is the ability to withstand the inevitable ravages of disease; the downside is that each infected plant brings just a tinge of sadness. A few pepper plants are also struggling with what looks like a viral disease. We are due for another heavy dose of rain today; later this week I will provide a few more specific updates. Working around the tomatoes showed that fruit set is occurring everywhere. I expect the first few ripe cherry tomatoes in a few weeks!

So, with everything in the garden in as good shape as possible, Sunday seemed like a perfect day to check out the wildlife of Falls Lake.  We've never paddled in a lake at such a high water level, and the rain clearly brought in significant amounts of debris. Yet, our way was not impeded, and it was a typical day on the lake - which means it never looks the same, no matter how many times you check it out. Herons were somewhat scarce, but we were watched in two places by vigilant Osprey, the turtles enjoyed having so many new floating perches, and, by sound and once by sight, it was clear that beavers were at work dealing with the reorganization of their habitat brought on by the heavy rain. 

Here are just a few pictures.

Well, that was quite a drink given to our gardens....the plants in pots look fine, and the big garden has but one issue - the rivers that coursed through made much of my bean row vanish. But if that is the worst of it, we feel very fortunate indeed. Today I will take a break from intensive book writing and start the process of ensuring all plants are appropriately tied, pruned or topped. After such a heavy watering, I am sure the plants will need a food boost soon as well.  Now that the weather report is done......on to something completely different.

I read often about how people struggle with eggplant.  Well, some struggle with eating them - I've found them to be an acquired taste (which I've certainly acquired!), probably because most people's first experience with them is from bitter, overripe or improperly cooked specimens.

Home-grown, freshly picked eggplant is a wonder. We marinate and grill them, turn them into one of the great alchemy experiments of summer (ratatouille), roast them to make Baba Ganouj, slice and dip and bread and bake them to provide the starting point for healthy Eggplant Parmesan, just to name a few of our favorite uses.

I used to fail quite miserably with eggplant...when I planted them into the main garden. Since transitioning to container growing, they rank as far easier to grow well than tomatoes, and on a par with peppers. There is one big early season issue - flea beetles. If you are diligent and pick them off and crush, them, or do as I do just after planting - make up some very dilute Sevin spray (very dilute - only 20% or so of recommended strength) and spray them for just a few weeks, as they become established, they thrive. I've found it is all about letting them get off to a good start; after that I put away the Sevin (I don't like spraying anything on anything, really). Note that I never spray anything on plants that we sell, which is way our eggplant seedlings are often riddled with small holes during our seedling sale time.

So, a few weeks after planting, see what our eggplants are already doing!  Those few that are already blossoming will provide us with our first harvest in just a few weeks.

Continuing with a series of early video updates, here is a detailed look at those varieties being grown for a few ripe fruit, a taste, some seed saving and hopefully a cameo appearance in my upcoming book. These are nearly all planted in 2 gallon grow bags, pruned to provide a central stem, and once fruit sets, topped at 3-4 feet max. So far, so good! 

For those of you hoping to see some video clips, you've been inundated! But it is good to get a nice early video snapshot of things, and I am growing quite a few dwarf tomatoes in development this year.  Enjoy!

Somehow, I seemed to create the most complex season for Dwarf growing yet - so many varieties, so many different generations, so many plants...and such fun!  Here is the first look at the various selections that I am growing this year as part of the project. I have three more rows to shoot...maybe later today, for posting tomorrow. It will really be something when these all start to ripen.

Just a few quick peeks into the garden below.  Also - be sure to check out my wife's Susan blog post - http://seedlingssewn.weebly.com/1/post/2013/06/new-job.html - she is making Memory quilts and is doing some really beautiful work.  There is a link in her blog post where you can see some examples.  I am so proud of her!

Yes, it was a difficult early spring. The cool, wet conditions confused many types of flowering plants and delayed the vegetable seedlings and the planting of the garden. The reward has been a string of absolutely perfect days. I will keep this brief and not go into specific details, but I can't remember seeing container-planted tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings look so great and grow so quickly. I did a walkabout today and noted open flowers on many tomato plants, and quite a few even have small tomatoes. Given that, and today's date of June 1, I can imagine starting to pick ripe tomatoes by mid to later June. The best part is that the extended forecast shows just a few days in the mid 90s for temperature. If we can stay in the 80s, fruit set should be excellent and onset of the common tomato diseases should be significantly delayed. Can you tell that I am delighted with things so far?

We had a good half day of photography last week (for the book), and all that remains is the most important part - pictures of ripe tomatoes. I've settled into a pattern of morning watering, followed by the typical tasks of weeding pruning, and tying of plants. We are eating salads 2-3 times per week (the other benefit of the weather is an extended lettuce and greens harvest). Beets are starting to form bulbs, and I hilled soilless mix around the base of the plants to see if I can get some good sized specimens, probably in 2-3 weeks. The bush beans are germinating, and once much of the lettuce is gone, squash and cukes will take their place.

The pattern I must adopt over the coming month is to get up really early to get the watering done before breakfast, and at least 3, probably as many as 6, hours a day finishing up the book text and refining it to a state of readiness for submission at the end of the month. Later in the afternoon I will get to other types of garden maintenance tasks. Having the book text done will be a great relief, that's for sure. But you only write your first book once, and I am expecting the final month of text writing to be a valuable and memorable experience.

By the way, shopping at the Farmers market today was wonderful due to the large variety of produce that is now available. We bought full flats of blueberries and strawberries (we bought from Langdon, and they were the best of the season so far), and good quantities of zucchini, corn, sugar snap peas and potatoes. Dessert tonight, in fact, was a scoop of vanilla soy creamy covered with strawberries and blueberries - just the thing following a wonderful afternoon kayak. Sue is going to make a rhubarb strawberry crisp for tomorrow night's dessert. Fresh berries are certainly one of the joys of life!