Today we picked three large bowls of tomatoes from the hoop house. I made a big tomato/cumcumber/red onion/dill salad. I find it very gratifying to eat so much of one's meal from what you've grown. We had a great deal of dill fern that smelled so good. I harvested much of it and will dry it tomorrow for the winter's supply of dill weed. Likewise, the excess tomatoes that we don't eat or share will be dehydrated for winter soups. Our tomatoes this year have had trouble with end rot and some splitting. Anyone know the cause/cure?
I have a personal theory I'd like to throw out for comment. It seems the economy is in distress and everyone is talking about it. Some say we will have a recession for another 18 months, or so. Others say it will be a depression rivaling the 30s or worse.
I was musing to myself while I toiled in the garden today. If the worst senario happens, it seems to me we are in more trouble than the Great Depression. Why? Because our society has become more dependant on a global goods market and we have fewer skills in the survival lines such as growing/preserving our own foods or making needed articles with our hands. With that has come the idea that it is the government's responsibility to take care of us.
Last year in our homeschool we read "The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. (I highly recommend this true story to children and adults alike.) We were mesmerized by the sheer drama of survival in this story. I wonder if many people today would have the skill or stoutness of character to survive such a life-threatening situation. Or would many of our young people risk their lives like the brash Almanzo Wilder to save his town from starvation and protect his own assets at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I fully believe in the spirit of survival in humans and the general good hearts and pull-together spirit of the American people. I just wonder how self-sufficient we really are. We may have an opportunity to find out.
What is your opinion? Are we more prepared or less? Nanette
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Blossom end rot can be prevented by adding a couple tablespoons of a granulated calcium ______ (sorry, forgot the name) stuff that can be obtained and any good garden center. They should be able to tell you what I'm referring to. Just sprinkle it around the plant when you transplant them to the garden and you shouldn't have further trouble.
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