One of summer's greatest pleasures for me is rain in the night. I love to wake up and hear the rustling of raindrops approaching, then the thickening of the shower into a soft curtain of sound. It makes me deeply aware of the comfort of the cotton pillowcase, the heft of the quilt, the stillness of the rooms where my family sleeps. I feel the meaning of shelter.
I also think about my garden drinking in the rainwater: the shallots growing fat, the cucumbers swelling, the cabbage adding leaf upon leaf. I think about the tomatoes turning from early matte green to shiny yellow to the polished red of ripeness.
Waking to rain Saturday night, it was the thought of my tomatoes that torqued my rainy reverie into dread and worry. Rain drives late blight the way wind drives a wild fire.
Another gardener had given me the news Friday: Late blight is in Scarborough, she said. It's in Waldoboro. The storms this week spun it everywhere. I lurched home to inspect my tomato plants. And there, on one plant, were the telltale signs: Curling black leaves, dark patches spreading on the stems. I shook. I stood there in the garden, and I shook. After last summer's ordeal with late blight, I didn't feel equal to it again.
I fell to work though. I cut out the blighted plant (with its load of maybe a hundred little pearly tomatoes, still green). I bagged it. I loaded my sprayer with the organic spray that got me through last season, one arduous day at a time. I sprayed my Pinks, my Persimmons, my Ruby Golds and Sungolds. I looked at the abundance of the San Marzanos. So many times this season, I've gone out to the garden for the sole purpose of reveling in the tomatoes as they set fruit. This year, until now, had been the perfect growing season: early warmth, steady warmth, lots of sunlight, enough rain. And now blight threatens all that potential bounty.
I should know better than to get my hopes up. A gardener, this gardener anyway, lives with threat: Groundhogs three years ago, a devastating hailstorm summer before last, two months of rain and blight last year. But hope sprouts in a garden. It comes up as reliably as the weeds. I won't have the luxury of just reveling in my tomatoes now; I'll have to toil for the harvest. But toil I will.
How about you? How does your garden grow?
14 comments:
Hope blight doesn't take over your plants? The plant you cut out, what do you do with the tomatos? Do you eat them or discard them?
Oh goodness! I am keeping my fingers crossed too. So far so good, but I am heading out there shortly to check them over. I am already DROOLING over the tomatoes on the plants, but don't dare get my hopes up after last year!! There are a few cherry tomatoes starting to pink up.. Best of luck to you too!!!
I've faced many gardening challenges too. The most recent being a mouse that came and ate seedlings for the fall garden!
I hope your efforts save your tomato harvest!
Oh dear. We don't get any summer rain, nothing from about late May through October, and although we have to irrigate the garden to grow our produce, I see that's actually a blessing in regards to late blight. I'd be devastated if I didn't have a lovely tomato harvest to look forward to in late summer. I do wish you the best, and do so hope that nature spares at least some of your tomato harvest this year.
Meems: Maybe I should have pickled the bigger green tomatoes. But I was in a wild tear to get that blight away from the healthy plants. I just bagged every leaf and stem and tomato and got it out of there.
Leigh: Oh, I think of you last year. I hope the best for you and me both. I think a little optimistic drooling can only help things along. GOOD LUCK, dear one!
Elizabeth: We've been troubled by a mouse (or rat) this year too. Something ate every single edamame bean for a period of two weeks. Then I got some sprouted in another bed. So weird. Good luck with your fall garden.
Clare: I guess there are blessings to not having summer rain. You must get an amazing abundance in CA. I've often fantasized about how long the growing season is there. I spoke with a CA gardener last year when she was visiting Maine; I was practically paralyzed with envy. Can't wait to see the fruits of your harvest!
I just harvested my first tomato this evening and had it for dinner. Have had a few cherry tomatoes as well. Your comment about late blight horrifies me cause last year was so sad, especially given it was our first year gardening in earnest. Am keeping fingers crossed Portland has escaped it. Is that possible?
Susan: Just watch them closely. Even if you get some blight, you can fight it successfully -- given enough sunshine. Sunshine kills the spores. Clip any blighted leaves or stems, and spray with Serenade if you must. Wanna do the sunshine dance with me??? GOOD LUCK!!!
I am such a non-gardner that I don't know what blight is...but it sure sounds bad, so I'm hoping it's not going to visit you..the way you described the rain in your first paragraph made me smile..and wich I could feell it that way again..sounds perfect!
Hello June. I feel your pain. And it would not have done any good to pick the green tomatoes from that plant. Here is a link to my blog post about last year's late blight. It's not a pretty sight.... I'm afraid after last year's epidemic, we'll be dealing with it for years now. *sigh*
Oh no, keeping my fingers crossed for you! No one should have to deal with blight two summers in a row:-(
That photo is lovely!
Colleen: I wish you rain in the night! No summer rains in Utah, huh? (YOU always make me smile; I'm so happy to return the favor.)
Kris: Oh, last year in tomato-land: It was awful, wasn't it? The photos of your devastation brought the memories rushing back. I couldn't bear to take pictures of mine (though I can't stop seeing the pictures in my mind).
Knittymama: Thanks! We'll be busy with vigilance for sure!
June, I'm right there with you; I pulled up a couple plants that remained stunted, wilted and generally ratty looking. I have no idea what was causing it; blight usually hits it quick and hard and takes out the whole plant in days. This ailment is making them (and me) suffer a slowly.
May I ask what organic spray you use? I'd be interested, since your post suggests it actually works. Hope springs eternal, even with upcoming rains.
Tom: Oh, the stress on the tomatoes -- and us! I'm so sorry about your troubles. Do try Serenade. Last year, when the blight was so terrible, I picked leaves as soon as I saw the signs. I trimmed stems if the blotches appeared. And I sprayed heavily whatever remained of the plant. I did eke out a harvest. I wish you luck -- and no signs of blight. Ever.
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