A caregiver’s lamentation

You try to raise them right. You do what you can to keep them healthy. You do everything in your power to ensure they grow up in a nurturing environment. You encourage them to be independent, and not follow the crowd.

And then the throw in with their peers and join whatever craze is in fashion at the moment. I thought we’d be immune to it, since all indications up to this point were positive. I was wrong. And it happened so fast I hardly saw it coming.

So in order to minimize my losses, I’ve decided to keep the bits that are worth saving and let the remainder work itself out.

In case you’re thinking that I’m getting rid of one (or parts of one) of my children, fear not. It’s my rebellious tomato plants that have caused me this grief.

Here they are, happy and healthy just a few weeks ago, on July 29.

Shortly thereafter, on August 6 (just 9 days ago), still remarkably vibrant in the lower right-hand corner.

Then, in a matter of days, my tomatoes gave into the peer pressure and decided to become infected with the blight that hit the northeast this season.

From the July 17 NY Times article referenced above:

A highly contagious fungus that destroys tomato plants has quickly spread to nearly every state in the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic, and the weather over the next week may determine whether the outbreak abates or whether tomato crops are ruined, according to federal and state agriculture officials.

The infection seems to have started from two plants I acquired from my neighbor and spread to the two adjacent plants, which are heirloom varieties I bought from another smaller garden store. The two plants I got from MB are in another location and seem to be fungus-free.

So this evening, on MB’s advice, I picked about 50 nice-sized, relatively healthy-looking green tomatoes to see if I can get them to ripen without being too badly fungus-ridden. We’ll see.

On the bright side, we’ve been enjoying lots of carrots and squash from the garden, and the corn is over my head with lots of ears just waiting to be picked and eaten. The pole beans have also started producing, and the cucumbers have flowers and some nice-sized fruit already. You can see the beans over Thomas’ shoulder in the picture above, and the corn to the far right.

I’ll post an update when the salvage attempt comes to fruition (pun intended).