the bite of blight... That which I feared came true this weekend. For the past few weeks I have heard that late blight has been ravaging the farms and gardens of New England, decimating potato and tomato crops alike. I kept my fingers crossed that my tomatoes, my beautiful, thriving tomatoes that I started from seed back on a snowy February day, would not become a victim of this devastating disease. This has been such a hard, wet summer for New England growers as it was, blight would just be salt in the wound. My 45 plants that filled with a bounty of fruit suddenly turned sickly in a matter of a mere week. Their leaves became poxed and yellowed. And then on Friday I saw it... the sickly browning of the stalks... late blight. My heart sank as I inspected each plant in hopes of salvaging at least one or two, but no, it was too late. On Saturday morning, with my heart heavy with sadness, I tore each plant from the earth and placed into a black trash bag, sealing the sickness in hopes to contain the spread of the disease. My beautiful tomato patch, whose crossed layout my boys would chase each other through, was now gone as were my hopes of sauces and salsas. There will be no Sun Golds cherries, no Juliet romas, no Fourth of July sandwich slicers, and no gorgeous heirlooms this year. It would be a lie to say that I didn't shed a tear as I placed those once gorgeous plants into their tomato body bags.
my beauties swelling with bounty and beaming with health just a few days ago.
The aftermath of blight. Soil that shall remain barren until the winter's freeze kills any remaining spores.
1 comments:
I am so sorry to hear this. How heartbreaking. But what a beautiful tomato patch you created.
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