(no subject)
Jul. 12th, 2012 04:53 pmSo how does my garden grow...
Badly, it seems.
My peas are dying. They're pretty much dead. I think I need to pull them at this point because they seem to have dried out. Damn this hot spell of weather! They were doing awesome until the temperatures started getting up there in the 80s and 90s. :( And we're supposed to be in the 80s until I don't know when. Today is the first day that the heat wasn't oppressive to me (cloud cover and wind for the win!) but it's been hot. And peas are a cool season crop. The other problem? I planted my peas at the end of March. I should have planted them more towards Febuary than April so I lost a few precious weeks of growing and harvesting time. Now? They're mostly dead at the bottom and the tops have stopped producing flowers so no more peas. T_T
The sugar snap peas? The only ones I care about? Also having problems. The heat is causing havoc on my peas. I had my first harvest and it was delicious. I'm growing more for another meal but I noticed a few days ago that the plants have stopped producing flowers. Or have really slowed down (there's maybe one or two new flowers since then and none right now). I thought it was the heat so I decided to water them more. Only they still haven't improved. A couple of the plants have dried out like with the normal peas but that's not the big problem. The big problem that I noticed today? My plants are turning white. And that's bad. Very bad. They've become infected with powdery mildew! T_T FUNGUS! And it's everywhere, why didn't I notice it before? It might have been saved if I noticed it a few days ago but I think because of the heat, I've been watering and going too quickly to notice anything amiss. But now it's EVERYWHERE. Only the tops are okay. Thankfully it hasn't spread to any of the pods yet but I suspect it's just a matter of time.
Some quick Google'ing tellings me powdery mildew happens when you have hot days and cool nights. That's like the definition of an Oregon summer. It might be up around 90s during the day, but then at night it drops to the 50s or 60s. And the problem is that I like to water my plants in the afternoons. When I decided to water more, I added and early morning watering and that's probably okay. But the afternoon watering probably didn't help the mildew because there wasn't enough time to dry out before dark. And supposedly, the fact that I grow these plants in containers between the house and the fence means there's also poor air circulation which adds to it.
I think I'm going to try and get another meal out of the peas. It'll probably be a small one but I'm hoping beyond hoping it'll last a bit longer before I have to pull them. And to give you an idea of how bad this mildew is, they recommend you either burn or throw them away after you pull them. OTL My sugar snap peas... :(
The only up side? Now that I know some of the problems, I can hopefully avoid them next time. I plan on doing peas again in either August or September for a fall harvest. I'm hoping for a mild fall so maybe I'll get some in. And in any case, I know better for next year. Start them early and get Cascadia and Super Sugar Snap peas seeds next time because they're resistant to mildew and mosaic virus (I've only seen slight mosaic this year but apparently plants grown in the PNW are particularly susceptible to it). And hey, I found out we live in zone 7 rather than zone 8 as I had been thinking all along. Apparently, we get colder than I thought we did. Yay.
As for the rest of my plants, my strawberries don't seem to be producing large berries. They're all tiny, like their growth is stunted. I'm not sure if it's because I'm not fertilizng them enough or watering them enough but I'm doing both more so hopefully they perk up a bit.
My cilantro have started to flower. So they're done. My green onions are thriving. I finally have sweet basil plants! Well, I have two, I think the other seeds died in the soil. My carrots are the only ones that seem to be doing wonderfully at this point in time. At least I have carrots to look forward to eventually. *sigh*
My peas... My peas... T_T I really wanted more peas from this year... I told myself as a beginning gardener starting for the first time, I shouldn't expect much but then they started flowering and producing pods and I got all happy but now just as quickly, they've started dying and have become diseased... All I want is enough for another meal. Just one more meal. Please plants, give it all you can for one more meal.
Badly, it seems.
My peas are dying. They're pretty much dead. I think I need to pull them at this point because they seem to have dried out. Damn this hot spell of weather! They were doing awesome until the temperatures started getting up there in the 80s and 90s. :( And we're supposed to be in the 80s until I don't know when. Today is the first day that the heat wasn't oppressive to me (cloud cover and wind for the win!) but it's been hot. And peas are a cool season crop. The other problem? I planted my peas at the end of March. I should have planted them more towards Febuary than April so I lost a few precious weeks of growing and harvesting time. Now? They're mostly dead at the bottom and the tops have stopped producing flowers so no more peas. T_T
The sugar snap peas? The only ones I care about? Also having problems. The heat is causing havoc on my peas. I had my first harvest and it was delicious. I'm growing more for another meal but I noticed a few days ago that the plants have stopped producing flowers. Or have really slowed down (there's maybe one or two new flowers since then and none right now). I thought it was the heat so I decided to water them more. Only they still haven't improved. A couple of the plants have dried out like with the normal peas but that's not the big problem. The big problem that I noticed today? My plants are turning white. And that's bad. Very bad. They've become infected with powdery mildew! T_T FUNGUS! And it's everywhere, why didn't I notice it before? It might have been saved if I noticed it a few days ago but I think because of the heat, I've been watering and going too quickly to notice anything amiss. But now it's EVERYWHERE. Only the tops are okay. Thankfully it hasn't spread to any of the pods yet but I suspect it's just a matter of time.
Some quick Google'ing tellings me powdery mildew happens when you have hot days and cool nights. That's like the definition of an Oregon summer. It might be up around 90s during the day, but then at night it drops to the 50s or 60s. And the problem is that I like to water my plants in the afternoons. When I decided to water more, I added and early morning watering and that's probably okay. But the afternoon watering probably didn't help the mildew because there wasn't enough time to dry out before dark. And supposedly, the fact that I grow these plants in containers between the house and the fence means there's also poor air circulation which adds to it.
I think I'm going to try and get another meal out of the peas. It'll probably be a small one but I'm hoping beyond hoping it'll last a bit longer before I have to pull them. And to give you an idea of how bad this mildew is, they recommend you either burn or throw them away after you pull them. OTL My sugar snap peas... :(
The only up side? Now that I know some of the problems, I can hopefully avoid them next time. I plan on doing peas again in either August or September for a fall harvest. I'm hoping for a mild fall so maybe I'll get some in. And in any case, I know better for next year. Start them early and get Cascadia and Super Sugar Snap peas seeds next time because they're resistant to mildew and mosaic virus (I've only seen slight mosaic this year but apparently plants grown in the PNW are particularly susceptible to it). And hey, I found out we live in zone 7 rather than zone 8 as I had been thinking all along. Apparently, we get colder than I thought we did. Yay.
As for the rest of my plants, my strawberries don't seem to be producing large berries. They're all tiny, like their growth is stunted. I'm not sure if it's because I'm not fertilizng them enough or watering them enough but I'm doing both more so hopefully they perk up a bit.
My cilantro have started to flower. So they're done. My green onions are thriving. I finally have sweet basil plants! Well, I have two, I think the other seeds died in the soil. My carrots are the only ones that seem to be doing wonderfully at this point in time. At least I have carrots to look forward to eventually. *sigh*
My peas... My peas... T_T I really wanted more peas from this year... I told myself as a beginning gardener starting for the first time, I shouldn't expect much but then they started flowering and producing pods and I got all happy but now just as quickly, they've started dying and have become diseased... All I want is enough for another meal. Just one more meal. Please plants, give it all you can for one more meal.