The Bare Garden

Well, its July now and its clear that this garden is not what it was last year. So far, I have only picked one japanese eggplant for the season. Last year, I was picking four or five eggplants every weekend starting around the end of May. I have only picked one round red tomato. Last year, I had buckets. I have only picked two yellow squash where last year I was picking several every weekend. The zucchini has been the most prolific plant in the garden this year. I have picked about one large zucchini every weekend from one of the three plants. Only one of the plants has grown fairly large. At this point, my garden is more of a testing ground and I am trying to reduce the impact of powdery mildew which devastated the garden last year at this time. The larger zucchini plant started out with powdery mildew this year around the end of june. Last year, I had learned that people use Neem Oil to fight powdery mildew. I purchased a 3 or 4 gallon sprayer and as soon as I saw the powdery mildew, I sprayed the leaves with Neem oil. I saturate the leaves front and back.