The Negetive: July 2008, the year it rained.....
I took these pictures this morning. This is what happens when you get too much rain. The cucumbers and melons (mostly muskmelon, not too bad with water though!) are suffering BAD with powdery mildew. (No cucumbers from us this year in quantity.) This killing spore spreads like wildfire under these rainy conditions. Also you can expect 'blight' on your tomato plants! Esp. if you have not staked them. Even if you bring the plants up off the ground, they would dry out faster, but there is still no guarantee the blight wouldn't move in. The picture is one very wet patch in our roma field. Also, after the slight hail we got along with the pounding rain and winds, alot of plants suffered damage and are weakened, and THAT is when the bugs move in. It's a BAD year for Potato Beattle. These little bastards rape your plants of all foliage. You can see a clear example on one of our late tomato plants! Bright side, no irrigation this year. Corn is happy. Late storage cabbage is doing well.
Well, brother Mike showed up on his quad, time to have a visit this Sunday morn and talk more farming.....