A Fungus Among Us

Great. At least now I know what happened to our tomato plants this year:

Blight Devastates Pocono Tomato Crops

They were healthy and strong until the heat wave about 2 weeks ago. Now they're mostly dead, and look exactly like the photo in this article. I've even got a few tomatoes rotten and fuzzy still on the vine. We harvested maybe 15 tomatoes from 2 plants.

The article says it's due to infected seedlings - mostly grown for the "big" stores. Which is exactly where I got mine, from a certain large, home improvement center. However, it does state that this fungus can also be airborne.

Interestingly, the article also mentions this is the same fungus that destroyed the potato crops in Ireland during the famous "Potato Famine".

Here Comes Trouble

We've Leo-proofed the house, but it's surprising how much trouble something so small can get into.

The little squirt's been investigating every single corner of the house. Bouncing. He doesn't toddle anymore, just runs full speed or bounces.

If there's the smallest crevice anywhere, he'll try to stick his head in it. 10 points if it's got wires.

He even managed to scoot under my desk sideboard, a space of about 3 inches high. There's now a fat Linux book jammed there now. I knew I'd find a good use for that old manual.

In other news....

Yesterday, I finally bought some veggies for the garden. Normally, I plant them in late April or early May, but we've had such late frost (I had to scrape my car windows just last week), and if it's not freezing, it's pouring down rain.

I planted 2 tomatoes, a jalapeno, chili pepper, basil and rosemary. And it dropped to freezing temps again last night. It's June 1st for criminy's sake!! We shouldn't have any temperatures below 50!

Still, the plants look okay this morning. Thankfully it's sunny, and the high should be around 72.

I'll have to wait for the end of August for those delicious, home grown tomato sandwiches!