Country Living Skills

We just wanted to share a picture from our garden

After all the leaves had been pruned away from our infected zucchini, new leaves grew quickly, but the fruit that was already growing seemed to disappear…  So we pruned away all the whithered and moldy fruit too, and continued spraying leaves and stems with baking soda / soap mix, and this morning we harvested the first nice proper zucchini.  Looks like for us, the baking soda / soap mix saved the plants.

Here is the recipe again, for 1 gallon of water:

• 4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp soap (we used dish liquid)

After a pause yesterday I sprayed again today and am pleased with the result…

I know you should not count your chickens before they are hatched, but it looks as if the zucchini and all the other infected plants are doing really good now !  No new mildew, but plenty of new foliage growth, and the fruits are growing too, so…  I dare say the baking soda / soap mix, and the pruning, worked.  Stay tuned for more though, we will report how things are developing.

Via: Countryside & Small Stock Journal

(…) If you’ve got a garden plot rolling already you’re in good stead. While we normally have a long growing season here in southwest Missouri, we are about a month behind schedule because of the massive flooding and late frosts—but we’ll still give it the old college try.

If you don’t have a garden, help out the folks who do this for a living (CSAs, produce farms, etc.) and buy some of their stuff on bulk sale. You’ll be happy with your bargain and they’ll be happy to sell their perishable stuff while it’s still fresh.

Over the past decade, Jimmie and I at Timberlakes Farm grew veggies to supply upscale restaurants plus our own household’s yearly needs. But, as many of you already know, when that flush of zucchini, other squash, peppers and tomatoes ripens, you’ll feel there’s enough fresh produce to serve the entire armed forces! Most growers, like us, prefer to sell it at a “fresh” bulk-discount price to someone who can take advantage of it and feed a family, than to let it spoil and get dumped onto a compost pile or go to waste.

In either instance, the biggest question that always raises its ugly head is: how much do I have to grow (or purchase) to supply my family’s food needs throughout the year? Since I’ve done this for so long (first to feed me and the two kids [as little tykes] and eventually just the two of us seniors—Jimmie and me), I’ll give you the best average to yield a year’s supply of stocked food for a household of four. (I am saying “average” because of the varying ages, appetites, and menu preferences that come into play.)

Full Article

After heavy pruning and spraying yesterday, our zucchini looked much better this morning.  There seems to be plenty of new foliage growth already, and the few leaves that still had a little mildew on them don’t seem to have developed any more mildew on them this morning.

The acorn squash that looked really bad last night seems to have recovered a little too.This morning I sprayed them all again with the baking soda/ soap mixture as it seems to work well.

Stay tuned for how things are continuing here.  Tonight we will burn the leaves I pruned away yesterday morning.