Chipmunk strikes again, should the empire strike back?

This is the third time the chipmunk has made a feast of the cabbage. I am trying to grow cabbage for the first time and I planted 8 of them, but only 4 yielded results so far. The chipmunk marked his territory over 3 of them. It’s only a matter of time it attacks the 4^th one.

I have been humoring the chipmunk for a while now with cherry tomatoes and roma tomatoes. But the last 2 weeks I have been too busy to tend to the garden and forgot about “Chippy”. I guess he wants attention. As they say, “be careful what you wish for, you might get it.” But of course,  Chippy is well protected by his allies: my daughter and wife. The rule being if you are not with us, you are against us.

Surviving the odds against heat and pests

As far as the plants go, this summer has been a story of resilience. The 100°+ temperatures, lack of rain, and the occasional bring-down-the-trees-thunderstorm has taken its toll on many gardens.

In my case, the cherry tomatoes couldn’t take the heat. They have stopped flowering now, the leaves have turned yellow and the fruits have begun to crack due to the temperature swings.

Twice a chipmunk attacked the cabbages. Apparently, the chipmunk prefers to eat a fresh cabbage every time and not return to the half eaten one he left behind earlier. Can’t do much about the chipmunk he’s under total protection of my daughter. ;)

Then the beetles decided to take over the cucumber plant and establish their domain. The first signs were the leaves began to rot and the cucumbers turned yellow due to insect infestation. But it was nothing some organic pesticides couldn’t fix. They are back up now and hopefully will be more fruitful this season.

Despite all this, the cucumber yield has not stopped. In all I have about 4 cucumber plants and they have all been very productive.

The 7 green pepper plants have been tough in the face of all adversity. They have been very productive, on par with the eggplants. They are sweet and really make some good tempura.

Two eggplants perform like a factory. There’s something to harvest every other day.

The swiss chards survived the horrible thunderstorm and are back in full bloom.

The roma tomatoes were late bloomers but now they are full of fruits, but they have stopped flowering due to the heat. They should deliver on the 25 lbs per box expectation.

Bugs gatecrash the party!

It’s been a good season so far. The weather has not affected productivity of the crops. While many traditional gardeners in my area are waiting for rain, I don’t have to worry. Except, fill the 5-10 gallon reservoir in my SIPs every morning. It’s been really hot and the plants have been using up a lot of water.

But it has not been without events.

Caterpillars attacked the broccoli, cabbage and mesclun salad mix. First reaction was to cut the infected leaves. But I soon found an organic way to take care of it. I used a biological insecticide called Bacillus Thuringiensis or BT for short.

The way BT works is simple. The bacterium produces a crystal protein toxin that kills the cells lining the caterpillar’s gut, which in turn causes an infection in the body cavity of the insect.

The interesting thing about BT, is that only certain insects digest and are affected by the protein toxins. In most insects, as well as people, birds, fish, and other animals, the BT proteins have virtually no measurable effect.

Just spray on the leaves of the infected plants and when the caterpillar eats the leaves, they die within 20 mins. Now, the garden is virtually caterpillar free.

But I do have some issues with the roma tomatoes. The tomatoes on one of the plant started to develop brown rings at the bottom. It looked like the tomato had blossom end rotting caused by lack of calcium. But that couldn’t be true because I always add 2 cup of garden lime or dolomite anytime I grow tomatoes. All the tomatoes quickly developed brown rings and the plant withered and died within days. I tried adding garden lime to the root system but that didn’t help.

The bottom part of the plant and the root system looked very infected. I still have no idea what went wrong. I posting the pictures so if you spot the problem do email me.