Tomato Blight Destroys Crops in Southern Ontario

This summer I purchased an heirloom tomato plant. It started off great. But look at it now. Very sad. Only two tomatoes. I thought it was me who failed the tomatoes, but it seems there's a blight in Southern Ontario destroying crops, especially organically grown crops, even those grown by experienced farmers.

"Ms. Sosnicki's entire crop of field tomatoes near Waterford, Ont., about 130 kilometres southwest of Toronto, was destroyed this year by late blight – the same fungus responsible for the Irish potato famine. Spores of the fungus have scattered across much of Southern and Eastern Ontario, and the Northeastern United States.

The cool, wet conditions in the last few months has amounted to what agriculturalists call 'the year without a summer.'"

From Thursday's Aug. 20, 2009 Globe and Mail

Being a tomato lover, I was disappointed the heirloom plant became blighted. I just love home grown tomatoes. They have that "umami" flavour that you just can't get from tomatoes purchased elsewhere, unless they're direct from a local farm. I did, however, get a nice tomato surprise. Last year's tomato plants reseeded and those pictured to the right arrived this year. They look much better than the heirloom, but we'll see if they last until they're ready to pick.

For more about blight, this FAQ is an interesting read.

Informative Gardening Site

Where does the time go? Unfortunately, I've been busy and haven't had time to post much lately.

Thought I'd quickly let you all know about a gardening site I've just come across at garden.org.

The site posts how-to articles and videos. Lots of good information.

When harvesting Zucchini wear gloves!

Look at this mother of a zucchini!
Grown by moi. I feel like a proud mama. And it's 100% organic. I would have preferred to pick it at a smaller size, and it was the perfect size one day, but then when I finally picked it, two days later, it became mammoth.

Now, I've not grown zucchini, or as they're sometimes known, courgettes, before this season. Up to now, I've grown mostly flowers and only dabbled in growing vegetables. I've grown tomatoes, peppers and herbs, but that's about it.

As for the zucchini, I stuck my bare hand in the maze of zucchini leaves and pulled the zuke off the vine. It felt a bit prickly. Later I noticed what felt like a few slivers. I should have known better, as I just finished reading a very funny book called, "Merde Actually", by Stephen Clarke - it is a halarious book.

The main character, Paul, or "Pool" as the French say, is visiting his girlfriend's family. They have a farm on the French country side. He is recruited to pick courgettes by his girlfriend's mother and finds out that, "The courgettes were surprisingly prickly ...".

I see more zucchini coming along. This time I'll pick them as soon as I think they're the right size. In the meatime, I need to dig out some recipes. How many ways can you cook zucchini? When I have some time I'll post some recipes.