Heh. Songbird suggested this group might be of interest so here I am.
I've been reading for awhile and finally got a chance to post.

Short intro: dear husband and I are in zone 7b/8a (depending on whose
zone map you read) and have been gardening for 30+ years. We moved to
our new home less than two years ago and have been working our tails
off trying to put in orchards and gardens, having to amend this
horrible rocky soil. We had a good harvest last year from the raised
beds where we put peas and lettuces, then tomatoes and peppers. The
fig and blueberry transplants didn't do much but we didn't expect they
would. Neither did the two-year grape vines we planted. Now, there's
fruit on the Canadice and Concords vines so we shall see if they
survive the birds. The dwarf container blueberries are already
producing on the deck and several of the rabbiteye varieties in the
orchard are close to being ripe. Did I mention the need for bird
netting?

One problem we're having this year that we never had until now is
wilt. One day our peppers were fine, the next day they looked like
they needed water. I knew they didn't, but put it down to the heat of
the day getting to them. They never rallied and just got worse. Some
basil nearby had the same problem. The basil was common Genovese and
the peppers were three Bonnie green bells, Bonnie's Big Bertha bell
and another variety of golden California Wonder. Oddly, there's a
Bonnie red bell that is unscathed and it was next to one of the
afflicted green bells. Everything I've read points to a fungal wilt,
possibly from contaminated soil, even though the soil was "new". These
peppers and basil plants were in small raised beds and large
containers. Other large planters and other raised beds were
unaffected. I've had plants affected by wilt before now. I have
destroyed those plants and haven't planted anything else in the two
planters and that small raised bed that were affected. Don't know
what else to do.

Well, I'd better run and deal with the aftermath of the torrential
rain and wind that just swept through here after two weeks of no rain.
One massive oak tree bit the dust. It's amazing that the power didn't
go out.