Patience, patience

Last year, our veggie garden was not a happy place. Like nearly everyone in this area, despite our tried and true efforts at prevention, our entire crop of tomatoes fell prey to a very early infestation of late blight. We nearly always see some late blight, but it is usually – as you might guess from the name – late. Late enough that the tomatoes have a chance to get ripe. Last year? Late blight showed up in July, and by this time, we had no tomato plants left at all. That part of the garden was a wasteland. We were not alone but that didn’t make me feel any better when I had to buy canned tomatoes all last winter.

This year though, things are different. It is partly because of the almost fanatical dedication to spraying anti-fungal products on every single leaf until they were drenched. A lot is due to the weather which is far better this summer. Prayer certainly can’t be discounted either, because trust me, these plants have had some prayers spoken over them.So far, it is all falling into place – as you can see. I think it is especially satisfying because this is the first year we have started our own plants from seed. The greenhouse where I worked for years has now closed, so we bought a grow light and started these in March, right before our trip to Arizona. We aren’t totally safe yet, because as you can also see, the tomatoes are still intensely green. Not even a hint of ripeness yet.So – the spraying, watching and praying will continue.And in the meantime – we get to enjoy the grape tomatoes which are racing to ripeness and just a hint of what we hope is still to come.If we are all very blessed and fortunate, you will see lots and lots of tomato recipes around here soon.