T wrote:
Hi All,

I freaked out for no reason on the powder mildew front
on my Ronde de Nice Zukes. Turns out that is the way
they are suppose to look.

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/bglannua...0de%20Nice.htm

That doesn't mean I am home free. Just panicky.
(Powder mildew has destroyed a lot of my zukes in
years past.)

five or six years ago i think we started
trying to grow cucumbers here. some failures
sure. a few times we didn't get much at all
(because of location or failure to water them
enough). experience helps.

the past few years have been pretty good.

on the whole, remember that annuals have a
life cycle too, that they can start strong
and do ok for a while, but then they may fade
or struggle. and that may be ok, just how it
goes sometimes.

i try not to freak out about diseases or
insects. sometimes diseases are best avoided
by picking other plants/varieties. and bugs
can sometimes be worked around too. like the
other day. i had a red chard plant. the
leaves have been chewed a bit by grasshoppers.
i don't mind that at all. they don't eat the
whole thing. so i just rinse the leaves off
to make sure there's nobody hanging on and
then chop 'em up. tasted like red chard to me.


peace,


songbird