Now I'm sort of glad the deer ate some of our tomato plants. It's all we can do to keep up with current harvest! I've been a canning machine! We have pasta sauce, salsa, and tomatoes filling up the shelves of our pantry.
Unfortunately, there is a fungus among us. The tomato plants have become infected with Septoria Leaf Spot. It's a fungus that affects the leaves of the plant, and spreads through wind and direct contact. The fruit is unaffected by the fungus but as more leaves die, the plant stops producing new fruit and the existing fruit can experience sun scalding. It only affects the tomato plants, and the recommendation is that we don't try to grow tomatoes in that area for 3 years.
The entire batch of corn we grew has been lost to Japanese beetles. Despite catching thousands in the trap we set up across the yard, the beetles managed to eat their way into every single stalk of corn. I hate those things!
The cucumbers and zucchini plants started out well, producing a lot of the vegetables for us. However, they too lost the battle to the bugs. The squash bug population couldn't be controlled with our organic pest management strategies. They bled the cukes and zucs dry, and the plants haven't produced any veggies for a few weeks now. Next time we may try a chemical pecticide.
The shining star of all our plants has been the bell pepper. It has suffered no pest damage whatsoever and the peppers are HUGE! I haven't decided on the best way to preserve our pepper harvest...any suggestions?
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