Yesterday I had good surprises. Today... not so much.
Bad surprises:
1. All those lovely tomatoes I thought I might harvest? 1/2 of them have blossom rot.
2. My smallest daughter got stung by bees... 4 times.
3. A predatory bird (hawk, falcon, etc.) tried to sweep down and steal one of laying chickens this evening as we were putting them away.
Praises:
1. At least the chickens get to eat well. Lots of tomatoes went their way.
2. Taylor seems not to have had an allergic reaction any more serious than some nausea and slight swelling around the stings. We are keeping an eye on her.
3. The bird did not get my hen. She ran for cover as I ran at the bird. The bird aborted and landed in a tree on the property line.
Lessons learned:
1. Blossom rot can be caused by lack of calcium in the soil. High amounts of nitrogen can also cause it. I don't know about the calcium levels but we did have the chickens in that bed before we tilled it and planted. It is possible that the chicken manure was too "hot" for the plants.
2. Keeping baking soda, topical benedryl and ibuprofen handy is a good thing. Also learned that nausea is part of an allergic action.
3. Must keep an eye out for predatory birds. If anyone is gonna eat chicken it's me! Also apparently I will run toward a predator to save a chicken. Maybe I should start carrying a sling and a stone.
Wow! What will tomorrow bring?! Tomatoes with noses?
2 comments:
Thank you for sharing your good, and you bad! And I appreciate your ability to find praiseworthy moments withing :)
We have also been experiencing some rot within our tomatoes prior to ripening. Our garden (it is super small, as we rent and are using a bed that was existing) was layered with gravel and recycled asphalt.
Great for my strawberry plant! Not so great for everything else. The topsoil has been washed away. I believe the plants -- not counting the strawberry -- were dehydrated.
So, I have pruned, watered, and added miracle grow to all but the strawberry plant last night.
Today?
New buds on pepper plants and tomato plants! Everything looks so much happier!
We rented for 7 years before we were able to get the property we have now. Our landlords were great though and allowed us to put a garden in the back yard. Never had blossom rot there but did have horn worms. I'll take the blossom rot. Glad your plants are doing better!
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