Welcome!

Hi, and welcome to my little blog about gardening in a city! Minneapolis, to be exact.  One of my best friends suggested I start a blog so he could keep up with what's happening on my little slice of paradise, and I took him up on the offer. Disclaimer:  I'm no professional-I just happen to have grown up in a garden-crazy household (and I swore through gritted teeth that I would NEVER do this stupid stuff when I was older) and I'm blessed with some really knowledgeable friends. I hope to share the goings-on of my gardens, and learn from all of you, too!
My husband and I live with our two dogs in a little white house (yes, there's even a white picket fence!) on the south side of town with lots of gardens scattered about. My love for plants is equally divided between edible and ornamental, so this blog will cover both. We find that we're mixing the two more and more-mostly because one thing an urban garden does not have is a lot of space. Last, but not least, Jon and I are committed to the principals of organic gardening, and while not experts by any stretch of the imagination, we hope to show how easy it is to do.
I also happen to be a chef, so if it's O.K. with you, I'll be sharing what happens once my lovelies are ripe and ready for eating, cooking, preserving and more.
Thanks for stopping by, 
Heather

Monday, July 13, 2009

Houston...

We have a problem.

The peas, I suspect, have succumbed to fusarium wilt. They've got the typical yellowing of leaves from the bottom up:


They've got the stalks that pull, virtually rootless, right out of the ground, brown and a little gooey:


The leaves are fading in color:

It's really sad, too, since the only thing I know of to do is pull out and detroy all the plants. The other disturbing part is that if indeed it's wilt, it's a soil-borne disease.  I'm not sure if it can be eradicated or controlled. Farmer Josh?
We knew eventually the peas would go, but we hoped for a more "natural" cause, i.e. they stopped producing and we pulled them out.
Anybody dealing with this? I should add that we've practiced crop rotation for the past few years, and this is the first year for peas to be in this bed.
Sad, sad day.

3 comments:

  1. I think that its more likely that the peas are just done for the season. My shelling peas were done almost two weeks ago already, and they go in exactly the manner you described. Fusarium wilt is pretty rare this far north, Verticilium is more common but still not too much. Did you not get a crop? If so, perhaps a little more water next year, but once the sun is hot and the days are long, the peas don't have long.

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  2. Amen Farmer Josh!
    Awesome! I was going to be really upset to have that problem...it's funny, all the places I looked fusarium up in didn't mention locale. This is why it is awesome to be friends with someone who really knows what he's doing!

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  3. My peas look like this when they are done. We are hoping to get a fall crop in. Beefsteak Tomato's are in and roma's will be right behind. kale looks good heather.

    Mom

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