These are going into stir-fry tomorrow with some left-over great northern beans and whatever else we have in the house. I picked them a tad small because I just couldn't wait :)
We've given up on peas until fall and yanked all of these out of the pea circle today. In it's place I direct seeded a zucchini called "Sure Thing Hybrid". I'm thinking I will just plant beans and zucchini where ever I have room at varying intervals since they grow so quick and we could never have too many. Plus last year we lost all of our summer squash after the first few harvests. Also, check out the little volunteer tomato in the lower right part of the picture...I'm going to leave it alone and see if it can compete with the grass).
Ugh. My eggplants are all covered and this is the plant that looks the healthiest. I think I'm going to lose my only traditional eggplant, so I need to make a plan. Even my tiny little Turkish eggplants in a different area of the garden have been totally destroyed now by the flea beetles.
I'm pinning all my hopes on finding replacement seedlings at Garden Dreams later this week. I have my heart set on growing some Turkish Orange stuffers, and it's included in their list of seedlings. As a bonus, they are having and end-of-season sale with all seedlings at 50% off PLUS a free tomato, eggplant and pepper plant with each purchase! If you're in the Pittsburgh area, go check them out...currently they are Certified Naturally Grown, but are working towards becoming Certified Organic. If I come back with new eggplants, I will be potting them in an entirely different part of the yard and covering them until they get to fruiting stage.
I am going to see if my Husband is going past there, who can resist 50% off? I would suggest that you try row cover next year for the eggplant. You only need to remove it when the plant flowers for pollination and by then you miss the first flush of flea beetles. By the second time they come around the plant is too well established to effect production. Flea beetles can not resist eggplant.
ReplyDeleteThe weird part is that I had no flea beetle issues whatsoever last year and the two Ichibahn eggplants were totally untouched all summer. I never found a single hole on a leaf and they were planted in-ground just a few feet from the location of the potted ones this year. I wonder what made the difference.
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