Healthy Plants Can Fight Off Disease

 I have learned a couple of things recently that can help our plants be healthy. When the plants are healthy, they are less likely to be susceptible to disease.
  Two big problems in gardening; plant diseases and insect damage. You might recall in the olden days, how insects destroy large crops. If you ever read the Little House series, you can learn a lot about farming and gardening in the last century. One time, Pa and Ma had sown a large crop of wheat, I believe. When the crop would be finished, the money they would have made from that crop was going to pay for a loan. Unfortunately, a horde of grasshoppers came and polished off all the wheat. It happened on every farm in that area. I don't know how this disaster could have been prevented, but maybe if we know it is coming, ahead of time, we could figure out something to do to avert the inevitable grasshoppers, or whatever they were.
  Plants become weak when insects nibble on them. I found that out first hand when I inspected my tomato and pepper plants, only to find them disappearing! I found the culprit, which were fruit worms, and used DE and BT on them. But I still check a couple of times a day to see if there is anything on the plants.
   The key to having healthy plants is to have healthy soil. Every soil needs microbes. As the plant grows, the roots grow as well, and the roots take in the nourishment from the soil. It is harder for insects and diseases to attack healthy plants.
  I lost a melon plant last week due to a fruit worm, probably. I went out in the morning, and the leaves were all gone. I replaced it with a Minnesota Midget melon plant. Now my melon plants get dusted with DE and poofed with BT as well.
  Here two things I have learned that can help our plants be healthy. One of them is specific to tomato plants. You can take an aspirin which is 325 mg, and dissolve it in a gallon of water, then spray it on the tomato plants. You only need to do this once a month according to the article. The other idea is to use Epsom salts in the soil, or on the plants. It is supposed to make the plants healthy. No more need for Miracle Gro! Now we can make our own.
  Here is a url leading to a page on the article describing Epsom salts on plants.
http://www.garden.org/articles/articles.php?q=show&id=68

Happy Gardening!

Amarillo Carrot

Amarillo carrot pick from garden tonight