My DD says all I care about are my tomatoes (though I spend hours every day in the summer picking berries). I obsess over my tomatoes (and to some extent the peppers too).

If it wasn't for tomatoes I wouldn't have a garden. The soil for the whole garden is amended for tomatoes for next years tomatoes. And the next years tomatoes. The weather has been wet and cool this year. Tomatoes don't do well in that kind of weather. They grow slow. I know. I measure them 3 or 4 times a day. If I obsessed about tomatoes, I'd be a real mess this year. The sun came out today and it was warm. The tomatoes didn't budge an inch not even after I measured them 4 times. The fifth time I measured them they were still the same. The beans and cukes are doing fine.

No, it's not just you. I don't work during the summer, so I probably have way too much time on my hands. I'm out there inspecting every veggie (& I have a lot) several times a day.

I pulled my garlic a few days ago (I don't wait until all of the leaves die--just a few). Like I could wait until that happened!

Yeah I check everything daily too! Trying to learn more so I can improve and do better.

Always anxious about cucurbits, with all the ills their flesh is heir to. Espcially cucumber beetles and bacterial wilt.

Will I get any cukes this year? Will I get any melons? Will the vines die before the melons are ripe?

My beloved chiles.

Want an exercise in patience?

Wait for a Ghost chile(or any other pepper that's best when ripened fully) TO ripen to final color. Then, once one finally does, I want more and more to ripen. Then, it's "I hope the whiteflies and mites don't cut my long season short, because there's tons of unripe pods just waiting to ripen!"

Then, it's "I hope my tomatoes can hold out because i have a whole lot of salsa to make with my ripe peppers!"

Everything else, I've either become pretty good at growing what I do grow OR I take the bad with the good -- like powdery mildew on my cucurbits -- "it will be here, just deal with it." I'll still have zucchini coming out of my ears and if I lose the cukes, I get some and they're real cheap at the store.

I'd hate to live where a lot of you others live where weather can screw up all your hard work so easily and frequently. I'd really stress.

But yeah...my beloved chiles.

Oh! And onions -- still need to be more consistent with onions.

Oh! And gophers -- they're going to take out SOMETHING, but I'm getting as crafty as they are.

But yeah... my chiles.

;)

Kevin

I have been losing so much sleep over my garden. It seems almost as if the more I worry about it, the more potential problems there are... whereas when I'm less of a worrier, there seem to be fewer problems and a better harvest. ...I'm currently testing the theory that a watched squash does not pollinate.

Lol, i have been super upset all day about finding squash bugs on my zucchini and now devastated over the sudden wilt of said zucchini. Sigh.

I have that problem with my tomatoes. I am obsessed. I am out there about twice a day doing my bug checks. This is definitely the year of the bug. Worst year ever. I need to be about 2 feet tall so I can squash the tiny caterpillars that love to eat my tomato leaves. I don't spray anything, so it's alot of work. Almost yanked them all out a few times. Glad I didn't. It's been a very wet year. Lots of split tomatoes and stink bug bites on the maters. I found a great way to get the bugs. Put a small piece of sticky tape on a stick with the sticky side out. Just dab it on the bug and Voila you got the bug! Such a joy to get stink bugs and leaf footed bugs with.

After 16 years of serious gardening I don't really get anxious about stuff any more. For the most part, particularly toward the end of growth cycles, what's gonna happen will happen, IME.

For example, this year I saw the return of the MBB in one of my bean-plots. What is going to happen is that they will do huge damage. No point in being anxious. As an experiment though, this year, I shelled out the money for a parasitic wasp which is coming next week. Not so much to save this year's crop as to hopefully eliminate the MBB population for next year.

I get anxious about the rodents that eat the roots and fruits. When I see evidence of them, I have to start setting traps and it's aggravating and time consuming.

The years when I have snakes, coyotes or foxes, I can relax...like this year...no rodents...very few harmful bugs (except those blasted daytime mosquitoes.) I love my predators (me included).

anxious ?! me ?! haha . No way Jose !
Am I anxious to get the first tomato, squash, cucumber, eggplant before the end of season here at the PNW?!? Course not . That is not in my nature. I only get bad dreams about the insects/pests invading my garden, rats and rabbits running around and are having party in the beans patch , etc. Other than that , I sleep well , not worrying about garden things.

After a few devestating setbacks from various things, often the weather, the weather, and oh yeah, the weather (plus a few mammals), I don't get as anxious about any of it. Things happen, some stuff dies, other stuff does great, everything gets ripe eventually, sometimes going bad just as they reach harvesting time and then you cut out the bad spots and preserve what you can, within reason. I used to get worked up about stuff, but now I look at all those tomatoes sitting there all huge and still green and savor one more day before I'm suddenly up to my armpits in them, making the whole house hot making sauce and canning everything in sight while still keeping the garden watered and weed-free. :) don't get me wrong, there's the occassional flare-up, but I like this new not-worry lifestyle...

Well, the consensus seems to be that tomatoes, cucurbits, and pests are the things people are most concerned about. And compared to what some of you go through, I guess I should consider myself lucky that I only really worry about harvesting my garlic. lol

One more leaf, that's all I need is one more leaf to dry and I can pull up my softnecks. Then I'm inpatiently waiting on the elephant garlic and after that's pulled, it's the hardnecks.

Oh, and now I've got a mole that mysteriously showed up out of nowhere that is digging through my yard. I don't mind it too much if it digs in the front yard but if it digs in my garden he and I are going to have some problems.

Rodney

The other day when the winds were blowing about 50 mph before a storm/s, I cringed about damage especially corn blowing down. It didn't rain enough to normally soften the ground enough for blow downs, but it never the less blew some part way down when the wind shifted to the northward which makes some more open to the wind here.

Also cucurbits can be so vulnerable to disease, that you can hold your breath on them, oftentimes.

I measured the tomatoes one more time last night, and first thing this morning . and one of them grew over night. Excuse me but I have to go measure. The kale and the beets are doing good

Cucurbits here too :). They got me worrying so much. I do not have much experience with them. First time growing BN squash. Also growing cukes, watermelon and pumpkins. Hoping that they don't wilt, mildew or develop an infestation. Also growing organic and learning about that too. Every time I go to the community garden I run to my cucurbits

gardengal13: one way of preventing mildews from setting in is to treat them PRIOR to actually SEEING the symptoms and to keep treating through the months that it normally shows up.

Kevin

I will do this. I am like a nervous parent, checking them any chance I get. I water only in the morning and deep soak. What are your favorite sprays? I have researched and have seen it is best to spray first when the vines start to run. I am a total newbie and in a organic community garden. Love gardening but have lots to learn. Any advice is welcomed :).

gardengal13:

Neem oil is a decent fungicide, but it's kinda pricy and I'm still not too sure on it's effect of beneficial insects. This was to be my 1st year of practicing what I preached to you, but the monsoonal moisture came a about 2 months too early and the next thing I knew, I saw some spores forming.

So, through my research, I read recently that potassium bicarbonate (NOT sodium bicarbonate(baking soda), which is one of the recommended homemade remedies) is pretty effective and can actually cure AFTER symptoms show. So, I went and found some at a wine making shop for $6/lb. Even if you have to buy it online, it's still quite reasonable and much cheaper than commercial fungicides and even the milk solutions that I've read about.

Only 2 treatments so far, so it's much too early for a review. But so far, so good.

Good luck.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,
I like the sound of the potassium bicarbonate. Sounds safe and effective. I will have to look into applying it. I like organic methods.

Thanks!