Pizza Friday - homegrown
July 24, 2009
We had enough ripe tomatoes today that we thought they'd go well on a pizza...so we picked them (the green ones in the picture fell off the plant--they're going on a windowsill to ripen), and a bunch of basil.
Our potato plants all died from some sort of wilt or blight (I suspect late blight), but S. dug around to see if we had any potatoes....he found some! Does anyone know if they'll keep getting larger after the plant has died back? I suspect not, but want to be sure before we dig 'em all up.
Tomatoes that we picked today
(a Roma, several Early Girls, and a bunch of Sungold cherries)
(a Roma, several Early Girls, and a bunch of Sungold cherries)
Tomato (Sungolds and the Roma) and basil on top of pizza.--
the best pizza so far, I think (the pink/brown is prosciutto)
the best pizza so far, I think (the pink/brown is prosciutto)
Our potato plants all died from some sort of wilt or blight (I suspect late blight), but S. dug around to see if we had any potatoes....he found some! Does anyone know if they'll keep getting larger after the plant has died back? I suspect not, but want to be sure before we dig 'em all up.
Potatoes that S. dug up
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I keep reading/hearing about the effect of the late blight, and it has me a bit nervous about the winter, since potatoes are a big storage item for the winter... but I guess we have to take it as it comes, right? And maybe the later crop will be better.
On a *much* happier note, yey for the pizza Friday with homegrown tomatoes! The ones just picked taste like perfection. Great idea to leave them in large chunks on top.
Potatoes will not continue to grow once the vines die. Since you suspect late blight, I would recommend that you remove potatoes, roots, and vines from the garden ASAP. Dispose of vines in the trash so that potato relatives don't become infected.
It may have been blight, or it may have been fusarium or verticillium wilt (I was just reading about them and the dying of new growth tips fits with the symptoms we observed about a month ago---although hopefully the tubers won't be effected if that's the case). I don't think there's even any tangible evidence of potato vines left between disease and deer....
We may leave the potatoes in the ground for a few weeks for safekeeping (or maybe not if it keeps on raining--I don't want them to rot!) but we'll have to see. I think definitely it's probably a good idea to put the potatoes elsewhere next year---perhaps we'll put some sunflowers in where they were. I read for the wilts you should use a rotation period of 4-6 years (long time) for crops...and any nightshade relatives could be effected...