New Developments And Some Garden Chat

As for the economic overview, I did not get the article on surviving the current economic downturn quite finished yet but will promise to have it up by early Thursday, the day after tomorrow. I am still making time to study current developments and there are some discrepancies along certain lines such as the near term movement of precious metals among the most reliable experts.

I will continue to sort this and other issues out and get the best picture put together for the upcoming article. Meanwhile, I see that according to the poll on this site, there is still a high level of interest in gardening. In this area there seems to be a blight affecting the tomato plants this year. I have had some good tomato harvests but was probably one of the lucky ones.

The consensus in all of the local news reports suggest that these plants need to be removed entirely from the garden area to clear the way for next season's tomato crop. Otherwise, the blight will continue to ruin the plants and negate this food source. Here we have had some trouble with certain pests, as well. Particularly slugs, beetles and mites. As for the mites and beetles, an insecticide soap product seems to clear them up somewhat. These are available at most large stores and garden supply sources. They will not affect the organic nature of the garden as they are not toxic and can be used up to the day of harvest.

The slugs are a different matter though. You may need to purchase a box of powder to sprinkle near the affected plants which acts as bait to poisen the pest. This should not affect the organic nature of the food either as it is not put on the plants or close enough to wash into the root systems. The slugs and snails will migrate from the plant to the source and ingest it, which will then kill the offending pest.