The garden is producing quite well right now despite really hot weather and high humidity particularly at night. Low temperatures at night on in the low to mid 70's over the past couple of weeks. Not really ideal for tomatoes but the plants are producing as you can see from the collection below.
Those pictured above include Green Giant, Sweet Sue, Black Krim, Black from Tula, Black, Cherokee Purple, Purple Russian, Speckled Roma, Pineapple, Nepal, Prudens Purple and Amana Orange among others.
We continue to treat weekly with Daconil to try and hold off early blight which has infected a number of plants. We have had to pull another 5 or 6 plants which have been heavily infected with early blight or septoria fungus. Fusarium wilt ( at least that's my belief based on what I have read regarding that disease which is systemic and highly infectious) has also been a culprit. All of those infected plants have been removed and destroyed. We have around 65 plants left which are still producing. I am considering changing over to copper base fungicide this week or next.
The critters (squirrels, chipmunks and birds) are taking their share also as the hot summer conditions drag on. We try to keep these critters focused on other food sources such as sunflower seeds and other types of bird seed. I believe we have been somewhat successful with this approach.
With the extreme heat (nighttime temperatures in the mid to high 70's) and high humidity we are not getting as many blossoms to fruit. We are also now irrigating on a fairly regular basis since summer showers are few and far between.
Eggplants and peppers in the front yard are producing. Eggplant varieties include Japanese and Calliope.
