
And thunder here and there. It's been quiet for a while, however. King's asleep. Fingers crossed it remains quiet for a few hours or I will be peeling dog off my lap.
In early September, as the last of the tomatoes were ripening, my heirloom Black Crim contracted late blight from one of my two storeboughten plants. In a week, all six plants went from full and green and hearty to withered and blackened and dead. I lost about half a grocery bag's worth of tomatoes. I picked them as soon as I realized what was happening and tried to ripen them indoors, but it was too late.
I thought I would have to excavate all the dirt in the raised bed and start fresh in order to get rid of any lingering spores. I phoned the Lake County Extension Office this morning to confirm this. Talked to the Master Gardener and *yay*. This late blight was southern in origin and not hardy. The winter cold killed it. So I don't have to excavate all that dirt, which makes me very happy--I'm taking a vacation week next week, and I wasn't looking forward to spending a day I couldn't spare lugging 40-lb bags of dirt and pushing wheelbarrows. Now I can just pull the early weeds, turn over the soil, and plant my lettuces.