Shew what a busy few weeks. I thought I could avoid the December/January powdery mildew by planting the butternut out really early and harvesting by mid december, but lo and behold, the mildew came early this year. I've got my butternut growing up A- frame ladders and the lower leaves got hit. I've removed the affected leaves and did the milk/water (1/9) spraying and will do it a few times more. I've sprayed all my pumpkin, baby marrow and cucumbers as well, just to be on the safe side.
We harvested the first few peach off our tree yesterday and even though I've been spraying with Neem every 2nd day ('cos of the rain), a few still got stung. The birds have also been enjoying them (sigh).
This year I planted Marmande and Carbon tomatoes. I've been using the Florida weave staking method and must say that it's worked really well and requires minimal involvement once the initial setup is done. The Marmande are already about 1.5m high and looking strong.
I've pulled out most of the Romanesco brocolli plants as nothing seems to be happening- I suspect that it may be too hot for them. I've left two in, hoping they will go to seed.
What I've learnt from the last few weeks: When something in your life is not producing fruit or whatever it is producing, is not beneficial, pull it up and throw it away.
Greetings from Southern California
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God bless you :-)
~Ron
I am also hoping to be able to grow butternut this year without powdery mildew problems, so far so good! I have tons of little butternuts and if it rains I will just pick them all and eat miniature ones. My neighbor said one year it rained and her whole plant just turned to mush! scary thought!
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