Problems

This week has been rife with problems in the garden.  When the temperatures stay cool (think 25 degrees and under) almost all gardens look perfect.  Once you turn the heat up, you typically find out where the issues lie, and unfortunately for me, I have lots of issues.....

First up on the list:  Fusarium wilt.  As it turns out somehow, someway, I've brought a contaminated substance to the balcony. 

Nutrient problems

 Fusarium wilt is a soil born fungal infection which can last in the soil for up to 10 years.  It can be a little tricky to diagnose because it starts from soil level and gradually moves up the plant.  At first it appears to be a nutritional deficiency, because it doesn't have the characteristic wilt.  Then, as the plant continues to die back you begin to see the tell tale signs.  Some of the leaves start turning white with green veins, and the green parts begin to get a little bit wilty... and then... bam! You realize what you have, and you panic.  Why?  Because you can't really kill Fusarium wilt.  You can however hope it doesn't spread, and then only plant Fusarium wilt resistant plants.  Which, I did after I yanked those peas out.  In about a week I should have an Early Fortune 500 Cucumber sprouting.

Next on the list: Too many plants per container.  I did an experiment with my beans this year - I wanted to see how many plants I could fit in my container.  I tend to garden a little bit more bio-intensively to start with, so this was *really* bio-intensive.  Instead of my typical 3" seed spacing grid, I did a two inch grid.  As you can see, it was a BAD idea.  The container pictured has the worst nutrient problem I've managed to create in a container.  These have been replaced by a single Papaya Pear Squash... which is an early maturing F1 hybrid type of zucchini squash.  The second pot of beans wasn't nearly as bad as the first, so I decided to experiment (I know, I know) and just cut back the dead stuff and ripped out a few of the extra plants.  We will see how that goes.

The last thing on my list is a nasty case of Blossom End Rot.  Blossom End Rot is a calcium deficiency issue.  Usually the problem is that a plant has gotten too hot, cold, wet, or dry and therefore doesn't absorb enough Calcium.  In this particular case, I think my plants got far too hot over the last few weeks.  It's been up over 35 degrees, and they are sitting on hot concrete, with full sun and lots of wind... things like this remind me that roofs really aren't ideal for gardens!  However, never one to be spurned by mother nature, I'm going to take it in stride and be thankful that a) I live in a part of the world where I have a roof top to garden on b) I have the money to set it up and c) I've already enjoyed a nice set of produce, with more to come!

Happy Gardening!

Close up of Fusarium wilt

Blossom End Rot