$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

I've had my worst harvest ever, the only thing that did well this year was
my blueberry bushes and my cucumbers. Most of my tomato plants died, those
that didn't have only produced enough tomatoes for a couple of quarts of
sauce (thus the $500/plate estimate). I don't think the remaining tomatoes
are going to ripen because the plants think it's fall (the leaves on my
blueberry bushes have already turned color). My corn isn't maturing
either, I've got small ears with missing kernels. The peas and beans all
died in July. July was solid torrential rain, and August has been cold
which is why the plants think it's fall.

I'm in Massachusetts near Lowell and Nashua. Has anyone around here had
better results than these?

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

General Schvantzkopf wrote:
I've had my worst harvest ever, the only thing that did well this year was
my blueberry bushes and my cucumbers. Most of my tomato plants died, those
that didn't have only produced enough tomatoes for a couple of quarts of
sauce (thus the $500/plate estimate). I don't think the remaining tomatoes
are going to ripen because the plants think it's fall (the leaves on my
blueberry bushes have already turned color). My corn isn't maturing
either, I've got small ears with missing kernels. The peas and beans all
died in July. July was solid torrential rain, and August has been cold
which is why the plants think it's fall.

I'm in Massachusetts near Lowell and Nashua. Has anyone around here had
better results than these?


Did you at least have a couple of tomato sandwiches or BLT's? I can't
imagine *cooking* a small tomato crop when store-bought canned tomatoes
are as good (and cheap) as they are.

Bob

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:20:11 -0500, zxcvbob wrote:

General Schvantzkopf wrote:
I've had my worst harvest ever, the only thing that did well this year
was my blueberry bushes and my cucumbers. Most of my tomato plants
died, those that didn't have only produced enough tomatoes for a couple
of quarts of sauce (thus the $500/plate estimate). I don't think the
remaining tomatoes are going to ripen because the plants think it's
fall (the leaves on my blueberry bushes have already turned color). My
corn isn't maturing either, I've got small ears with missing kernels.
The peas and beans all died in July. July was solid torrential rain,
and August has been cold which is why the plants think it's fall.

I'm in Massachusetts near Lowell and Nashua. Has anyone around here had
better results than these?


Did you at least have a couple of tomato sandwiches or BLT's? I can't
imagine *cooking* a small tomato crop when store-bought canned tomatoes
are as good (and cheap) as they are.

Bob

Actually the cherry tomatoes are doing OK, I've been eating a handful of
them every day, it's the large tomatoes that I grow for sauce. The large
tomatoes are getting no where.

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

In article ,
zxcvbob wrote:

General Schvantzkopf wrote:
I've had my worst harvest ever, the only thing that did well this year was
my blueberry bushes and my cucumbers. Most of my tomato plants died, those
that didn't have only produced enough tomatoes for a couple of quarts of
sauce (thus the $500/plate estimate). I don't think the remaining tomatoes
are going to ripen because the plants think it's fall (the leaves on my
blueberry bushes have already turned color). My corn isn't maturing
either, I've got small ears with missing kernels. The peas and beans all
died in July. July was solid torrential rain, and August has been cold
which is why the plants think it's fall.

I'm in Massachusetts near Lowell and Nashua. Has anyone around here had
better results than these?

Did you at least have a couple of tomato sandwiches or BLT's? [...]

Oh my gosh that reminds me that we haven't done that yet. What have I
been thinking? My kingdom for some really good bacon...

Isabella
--
"I will show you fear in a handful of dust"
-T.S. Eliot

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

In article ,
says...
I've had my worst harvest ever, the only thing that did well this year was
my blueberry bushes and my cucumbers. Most of my tomato plants died, those
that didn't have only produced enough tomatoes for a couple of quarts of
sauce (thus the $500/plate estimate). I don't think the remaining tomatoes
are going to ripen because the plants think it's fall (the leaves on my
blueberry bushes have already turned color). My corn isn't maturing
either, I've got small ears with missing kernels. The peas and beans all
died in July. July was solid torrential rain, and August has been cold
which is why the plants think it's fall.

I'm in Massachusetts near Lowell and Nashua. Has anyone around here had
better results than these?


London Ontario.

We're not as bad off here, but I'm building several knockdown greehouses
and one permanent one that will depend on heat pumped from the basement.

I don't want us to get caught again (ever) the way we did this year.

We've had a wet season up until the past couple of weeks and what with
the cold, grey mostly sunless spring, everything that we started was
slow to grow, everything that survived was set back at least 3 weeks and
probably longer.

We've started a fall garden of cabbages, kales, broccoli, daikon etc. to
rescue the season.

It looks like we'll get a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes, but unless the
fall is warm or I can extend the season for the larger tomatoes, we're
unlikely to get much from them. And there's a lot of potential there if
they'd just get on with ripening.

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

In article ,
phorbin wrote:

In article ,
says...
I've had my worst harvest ever, the only thing that did well this year was
my blueberry bushes and my cucumbers. Most of my tomato plants died, those
that didn't have only produced enough tomatoes for a couple of quarts of
sauce (thus the $500/plate estimate). I don't think the remaining tomatoes
are going to ripen because the plants think it's fall (the leaves on my
blueberry bushes have already turned color). My corn isn't maturing
either, I've got small ears with missing kernels. The peas and beans all
died in July. July was solid torrential rain, and August has been cold
which is why the plants think it's fall.

I'm in Massachusetts near Lowell and Nashua. Has anyone around here had
better results than these?


London Ontario.

We're not as bad off here, but I'm building several knockdown greehouses
and one permanent one that will depend on heat pumped from the basement.

I don't want us to get caught again (ever) the way we did this year.

We've had a wet season up until the past couple of weeks and what with
the cold, grey mostly sunless spring, everything that we started was
slow to grow, everything that survived was set back at least 3 weeks and
probably longer.

We've started a fall garden of cabbages, kales, broccoli, daikon etc. to
rescue the season.

It looks like we'll get a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes, but unless the
fall is warm or I can extend the season for the larger tomatoes, we're
unlikely to get much from them. And there's a lot of potential there if
they'd just get on with ripening.

Try some clear plastic sheeting on the ground under neath the tomato
plants to increase the ground temp. Let us know if you get any tomatoes.
--

Billy
Bush and Pelosi Behind Bars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KVTf...ef=patrick.net
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1009916.html

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

In article ,
General Schvantzkopf wrote:

On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:20:11 -0500, zxcvbob wrote:

General Schvantzkopf wrote:
I've had my worst harvest ever, the only thing that did well this year
was my blueberry bushes and my cucumbers. Most of my tomato plants
died, those that didn't have only produced enough tomatoes for a couple
of quarts of sauce (thus the $500/plate estimate). I don't think the
remaining tomatoes are going to ripen because the plants think it's
fall (the leaves on my blueberry bushes have already turned color). My
corn isn't maturing either, I've got small ears with missing kernels.
The peas and beans all died in July. July was solid torrential rain,
and August has been cold which is why the plants think it's fall.

I'm in Massachusetts near Lowell and Nashua. Has anyone around here had
better results than these?


Did you at least have a couple of tomato sandwiches or BLT's? I can't
imagine *cooking* a small tomato crop when store-bought canned tomatoes
are as good (and cheap) as they are.

Bob

Actually the cherry tomatoes are doing OK, I've been eating a handful of
them every day, it's the large tomatoes that I grow for sauce. The large
tomatoes are getting no where.

See post to phorbin.
--

Billy
Bush and Pelosi Behind Bars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KVTf...ef=patrick.net
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1009916.html

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

"General Schvantzkopf" wrote in message
. ..
I've had my worst harvest ever, the only thing that did well this year was
my blueberry bushes and my cucumbers. Most of my tomato plants died, those
that didn't have only produced enough tomatoes for a couple of quarts of
sauce (thus the $500/plate estimate). I don't think the remaining tomatoes
are going to ripen because the plants think it's fall (the leaves on my
blueberry bushes have already turned color). My corn isn't maturing
either, I've got small ears with missing kernels. The peas and beans all
died in July. July was solid torrential rain, and August has been cold
which is why the plants think it's fall.

I'm in Massachusetts near Lowell and Nashua. Has anyone around here had
better results than these?

Don't feel too bad. I have a friend in Maine whose plants rotted out with
all the rain. I don't think they harvested more than a basket full of
veggies. We had an infestation of whitefly and 2-spotted spider mite the
likes of which the ag agent has never seen before. One of the 3 gardens were
wiped out. Every pepper and tomato plant was destroyed. The cukes and the
cantaloupes and the winter squash were also attacked. No insecticide,
either organic or chemical worked. We are getting tomatoes, beans, chard
and other veggies from the other 2 gardens though. The collards are so
infested with whitefly as to be inedible.

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

"General Schvantzkopf" wrote in message
. ..

Actually the cherry tomatoes are doing OK, I've been eating a handful of
them every day, it's the large tomatoes that I grow for sauce. The large
tomatoes are getting no where.

Next year you may want to select tomatoes more tolerant to cool weather. See
if that helps.

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

"Isabella Woodhouse" wrote in message
...

Oh my gosh that reminds me that we haven't done that yet. What have I
been thinking? My kingdom for some really good bacon...

You eat fatty salty poison loaded bacon? Do you know about all the poisoned
preservatives they use in Bacon, all the salt and how dangerous the fat is?
You're eating pure poison. ;-)


Isabella
--
"I will show you fear in a handful of dust"
-T.S. Eliot

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

General Schvantzkopf said:


I've had my worst harvest ever, the only thing that did well this year was
my blueberry bushes and my cucumbers. Most of my tomato plants died,
those
that didn't have only produced enough tomatoes for a couple of quarts of
sauce (thus the $500/plate estimate). I don't think the remaining tomatoes
are going to ripen because the plants think it's fall (the leaves on my
blueberry bushes have already turned color). My corn isn't maturing
either, I've got small ears with missing kernels. The peas and beans all
died in July.

My peas always die in July. (And the spring lettuces that are left alway
bolt.) Always.

This year we have had adequate heat and adequate rain to mid-July.
Then the free water stopped so it's all been irrigation since.

The sweet corn has been fantastic (no earworms, no bird damage).

The tomatoes have been great, ripening in a steady stream, except
now I'm getting some BER, what with the lack of rain. Some leaf
spotting showing up on the tomatoes in cages, but the staked tomatoe
are OK.

Pole beans have hit a lull, but should pick up again (especially if we
get some rain).

Peppers ok, but the damned pepper maggots are back hard this year.
Should have sprayed for them.

Summer squashes have done really well. Pulled one that looked
diseased, otherwise no sign of squash vine borer. Hitting the stems
every day or so with pyrethrum spray (once they got too bulky to
hand-pick the borer eggs) seems to have worked. Or maybe we
just didn't have as many moths this year. Or both...

Winter squashes have spread all around. Lots of green ones here
and there. Don't notice any butternuts, though, just Rumba and
Tetsukabuto, and I've only spotted one jack o'lantern pumpkin.

Onions have been good, leeks are sizing up, got some decent looking
kohlrabi out there, and one cabbage that grew from a seed in the kohlrabi
package that's really tiny. Have no idea what the celeriac are doing
under the ground (that's an experiment) and the potatoes I felt for
seemed small. The potato plants have already mostly died back.

There are two beds cleared and prepped for fall lettuce and bok choi,
and the plants are well started in 3" square pots. Just want it to rain,
or at least have a good promise of rain, or even a *really cloudy* day,
before I transplant them out.

July was solid torrential rain, and August has been cold
which is why the plants think it's fall.

I'm seeing some trees coloring up early, probably because it's been so
dry lately and all that leaf surface is more a liability than an asset, with
the days already growing rapidly shorter.

I'm in Massachusetts near Lowell and Nashua. Has anyone around here
had
better results than these?

I'm in Michigan, where I guess it has been a better summer than yours,
mostly.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

After enlightenment, the laundry.

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

In article ,
says...
I've had my worst harvest ever, the only thing that did well this year was
my blueberry bushes and my cucumbers. Most of my tomato plants died, those
that didn't have only produced enough tomatoes for a couple of quarts of
sauce (thus the $500/plate estimate). I don't think the remaining tomatoes
are going to ripen because the plants think it's fall (the leaves on my
blueberry bushes have already turned color). My corn isn't maturing
either, I've got small ears with missing kernels. The peas and beans all
died in July. July was solid torrential rain, and August has been cold
which is why the plants think it's fall.

I'm in Massachusetts near Lowell and Nashua. Has anyone around here had
better results than these?


http://www.seedsofchange.com/enewsle..._gardeners.asp

They're in Maine.

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

General Schvantzkopf wrote:
I've had my worst harvest ever, the only thing that did well this year was
my blueberry bushes and my cucumbers. Most of my tomato plants died, those
that didn't have only produced enough tomatoes for a couple of quarts of
sauce (thus the $500/plate estimate). I don't think the remaining tomatoes
are going to ripen because the plants think it's fall (the leaves on my
blueberry bushes have already turned color). My corn isn't maturing
either, I've got small ears with missing kernels. The peas and beans all
died in July. July was solid torrential rain, and August has been cold
which is why the plants think it's fall.

I'm in Massachusetts near Lowell and Nashua. Has anyone around here had
better results than these?

I was gonna say... This year I have pretty much decided that it
might not be worthwhile to grow tomatoes--esp. since I do have
access to a nice selection of heirloom ones grown nearby (in
Concord, Mass.). This has been an exceptionally nasty summer though.

--
Jean B.

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

In article ,
"Marie Dodge" wrote:

"Isabella Woodhouse" wrote in message
...

Oh my gosh that reminds me that we haven't done that yet. What have I
been thinking? My kingdom for some really good bacon...

You eat fatty salty poison loaded bacon? Do you know about all the poisoned
preservatives they use in Bacon, all the salt and how dangerous the fat is?
You're eating pure poison. ;-)

Like I said in my other post, we buy uncured bacon--- from pastured pigs
when we can get it. No poison, no preservatives. I also use properly
rendered lard (when I can get it). Imagine that. We don't eat poison
in our home. We eat real food.
--
"I will show you fear in a handful of dust"
-T.S. Eliot

$500 a plate spaghetti sauce
 

"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...

I'm seeing some trees coloring up early, probably because it's been so
dry lately and all that leaf surface is more a liability than an asset,
with
the days already growing rapidly shorter.


They're not only coloring up early here in TN but dropping their leaves as
well. It looks more like late October than late August. This has been a
very dry summer. We got less than 2" of rain this last time - the first rain
in over a month.