August 23, Monday

Some reading tells me my garden soil probably lacks healthy populations of root-zone microbes. Solution: compost. Unlikely I will have any this season. Something that can't hurt is a layer of grass cuttings as mulch. So here we are (taken a couple of days later):

Watered it down, then gave the bed a good soak. Frankly I'm not expecting much. Fertilizer has helped a bit. The eggplants are much larger. But there's no sign of blossoms on them or the peppers, and all my tomatoes have been medium-small or less (tho delicious). Need to get serious about compost for next season. In fact, I need to begin my soil prep this fall. Here are my eggplants and peppers:

August 9, Monday, Part 2

Results just in on the tomato bed soil tests:

pH slightly acidic (6.0-6.5)
Nitrogen depleted (none, nada, zip)
Phosphorus deficient
Potassium sufficient

I'm heading out directly with a full dose of the Miracle Grow (3 Tbsp in 3 gallons of water).

Also, here's a shot of the eggplants and peppers after a week with some fertilizer:

Substantial improvement from last week's photo, I think. I hope I got to it in time for our short growing season.

August 9, Monday

Gave the old bed a half dose of the Miracle Grow. Soil test on the new bed is in progress. Tied up 3 tomato branches that were on the ground, all with green fruit. I think I caught them in time.

I've been harvesting at least one tomato per day for the last week or so. Enough for my salad, sometimes more. I'm glad to be getting them so early. None from the CSA yet.

So far all the tomatoes are on the medium-small side, which is not optimal for the breed. Many of the early ones had blossom-end rot--the condition, if not the disease. Some had been lying in the dirt until last week, others not. But we'd gone thru a long rainy spell. A couple were rotting at the top, where they had cracked from rapid growth. More rain sitting in the cracks, I guess. Glad I'm a hobby gardener, not a career farmer.

August 8, Tuesday

As I had suspected, chicken wire secure enough to exclude rodents tended to exclude me too. I pulled part of it down a couple times to tie up the tomatoes, but other than that and some watering, I pretty much let it be.

Sunday was fairly pleasant so I decided to dive in. Removed all the chicken wire. Found the tomatoes in a tangled mass, with some in the dirt and some ready for picking. After much pruning and tying up, we had this orderly scape, along with a small tomato harvest:

Gave two tomatoes to the neighbor who's been mowing my lawn while I let my broken toe mend. Ate one in a Greek(ish) salad. Baked a green one I found on a broken branch. Deeelish!

All season I've noticed that my eggplants and peppers appeared to be alive, but not growing. Finally got my test kit in the mail. Results, as best I can tell:

pH neutral (6.5-7.0)
Nitrogen depleted (none, nada, zip)
Phosphorus adequate
Potassium depleted

Thus inspired, I went to Lowe's yesterday and picked up some:

• Garden Club Select Organic Premium Plant Food (high in N and K)
• Miracle Grow Organic Choice Plant Food Concentrate (all N).

Gave the eggplants and peppers a dose of the Miracle Grow and spread all (1.25 lbs) of the Garden Club slow-release pellets around the base of the eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes. Last night's thunderstorms watered it all in. Today we have this:

If I thought it possible I'd say the eggplants (back row) doubled in size overnight. In any case, I'm hopeful and will give them as much of the Miracle Grow (made from fermented sugar beet molasses) as I think they can handle. Meanwhile all my carrots (tops eaten by vermin in June) are gone.