My Teeny Urban Garden (updated; even more photos post 43/page 5)

[joz]

Those stripy tomatoes are Tigrovy. My Green Zebras are growing pretty slowly, and I've only got a couple small ones set. And they're not as pretty as these are. The Tigrovies are a red-striped variety (dunno what color on the stripes yet). I'll keep photographing them as they mature. I'm pretty impressed with their performance... they're tall, thick, and pretty productive. I've got two plants in, but the other one is throwing fruit with no (apparent) stripes. Otherwise, their behavior is similar.

The flea beetles showed up in my squash bed and melon bed. I've not seen any on the tomatoes. I *think* they're flea beetles, at any rate.... they're teeny (~1/16"), round shiny black, and scuttle/jump quickly away when I disturb the leaves. I'm not noticing many holes through leaves (and the ones I do notice look more like slugs), but the leaves are showing pale areas of "vampire" damage. I'll get some pictures of that this afternoon.

The thrips damage is less concentrated, spotty areas that eventually converge, with black spots on. They don't seem to be harming the production of my plants, but after the TSWV scare.... And, frankly, eating thrips poo in my salad (yep, they're all thru the arugula and lettuces) is not terribly appetizing. Little jerks.

I don't know if the spinosad is actually helping things. My problems haven't escalated tho.

 

[momofdrew]

funny those look just like green zebra...

Which by the way I introduced to my BIL last year when he was visiting from Fla...he loved them and started his own this year and of course being in Florida he is already picking....

 

[Collector]

Your garden is looking great, ours is still bare earth except for onions, garlic, shallots, and peas.

 

[Jared77]

Joz have you thought about ordering Praying mantis eggs and Lady bugs? These are predatory insects that will thrive in your garden especially if you get the weather and the insects that you think your going to get. Mantis will eat bigger bugs and the lady bugs will eat aphids and other small insects. Mantis don't typically bother with lady bugs either as it was explained to me, "For the Mantis trying to get into a lady bug is like trying to catch and break open an armored car". So they can co-exist in the garden no problem.

Have you thought about a bat house? Yes they are nocturnal but I believe they eat their weight in insects every night from what I've read so you know that would make a HUGE difference. Lots of plans online for them and you can DIY or order the kits even preassembled if you want. Sink a post put up the house and your making a difference. Plus once you unleash the predators in your garden thats it. No up keep, no maintance which is another reason I like to use these options. They are not as effective as insecticides and other chemical means but they are much safer. Its really your call.

One other idea that I saw that I think is genius....this person kept his rabbit hutches OVER his compost pile. So the rabbit droppings went right down into the compost. That way you didn't need a seperate collection system, and made even better compost. He used the posts that supported the hutch to frame the compost pile. They were 4x4 posts, which gave it plenty of strength. He had a gate on the front to manage the compost pile, and the hutches were designed so he could reach in and care for his rabbits, remove or add them as needed they were about shoulder high. Great use of space. Why have to collect the rabbit waste only to have to haul it to the compost pile when you can have it go directly into the pile? The hutch had shutters that could be easily pulled down to cover the wire if the weather was going to get bad too. Simple hinged shutters that could be latched up or down. You could put multiple doors on the hutch too so you could access nest boxes and help catch bunnies. You could also have multiple gates and walls to divide it up into different piles at different stages. I plan on using that idea if.....errrrrrr...when we get rabbits lol

 

[joz]

GAH! Sungolds are hit with the Spotted Wilt! My beautiful prolific Sungolds!

Guess there will be some green tomato relish in my future.... these two plants were LOADED.

 

[nachoqtpie]

hmmmm.... maybe this is what I have on one of my tomatoes.... it looks about the same... :/

 

[bluelacedredhead]

What Great looking gardens and gardeners in New Orleans!

Joz, sorry to hear that you're having problems with wilt. At least you have a plan in mind to use the tomatoes. Next year, try to space your tomatoes out more to have better air flow around them. I live in a humid area as well, and it doesn't take much to encourage disease when we overcrowd...Just one more...I've got room...Comes back to haunt you more often than not.

But good luck with your other plants like the melons.

 

[joz]

'Snot the airflow, it's the darned thrips. Grrr. Regardless, the loss of those two plants has thinned things out a bit.
This is the sum total of my emergency Sungold harvest, in a 1 gallon ziploc bag. It'll be a tiny batch of relish.

Please, Tomato Gods, don't let the Wilt find my Tigrovies!

 

[lesa]

Oh no! Just when everything was looking so beautiful! Sometimes gardening is just darn disappointing...

 

[bluelacedredhead]

Not great, but at least you got something.
Time for me to read up on thrips. :/