Concerns about late blight continue in the Northeast. The plant disease is the same one that caused the potato famine in the 1840s. Reuters reports that the airborne disease spread by spores continues to kill tomato plans in the Northeast. Plants have been pulled from major retailers in an attempt to slow the spread of late blight. These stores include Wal-mart, Home Depot, Sears, Kmart and Lowe's.
"Late blight has never occurred this early and this widespread in the United States," said Meg McGrath, a plant pathologist at Cornell University's extension center in Riverhead, New York.
She said the fungal disease, spread by spores carried in the air, has made its way into the garden centers of large retail chains in the Northeastern United States.
"Wal-mart, Home Depot, Sears, Kmart and Lowe's are some of the stores the plants have been seen in," McGrath said in a telephone interview.
The article says many organic farms and home gardners are also at risk. The article says many organic farms won't use fungicide sprays which can kill blight. Steve Funk show how the late blight is killing tomatoes for the Lancaster Online. Take a look:
Tomato plants are being pulled from store shelves so that an airborne disease cannot sicken other plants. The late blight disease killing tomato plants is been dubbed the "bubonic plague" of the tomato world. Cornell University professor of plant pathology, Meg McGrath, says infection means "certain death" for tomato plants. RedOrbit says the outbreak in the northeast has been made worse this year because of rainy weather.
Late blight occurs intermittently in the northeastern U.S., but this year's outbreak is more serious, as rainy weather has hastened the spores' airborne spread and infected plants have been widely distributed by large retail chains.
Although the disease, the same one responsible for the 1840s Irish Potato Famine, is not harmful to humans, it is highly contagious and likely spread on store shelves to nearby uninfected plants, experts say.
It can also spread after plants reach their final destination, further increasing the risk to other tomato and potato plants in commercial fields and home gardens.
Cornell University professor of plant pathology, Meg McGrath, said late blight was "worse than the Bubonic Plague for plants."
"People need to realize this is probably one of the worst diseases we have in the vegetable world," she told the Associated Press. "It's certain death for a tomato plant."
A release on Science Daily says the late blight is killing tomato and potato plants in gardens and on commercial farms. The infectious disease is same one that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s.
A Newsday story says Bonnie Plants, a plant supplier and seed distributor, has lost $1 million worth in sales because of the blight fungus.
It's spring and for gardeners that means it's time to start thinking about roses and summer flowers. But some people find roses difficult to cultivate. P. Allen Smith talks about growing roses and shows off some new rosebushes that have lots of blooms and are disease resistant. Remember, you'll need at least six hours of full sun each day for rosebushes to thrive. Take a look:
Author Tovah Martin showed Harry Smith how easy it is to bring nature indoors with terrariums made with household glassware. Tovah Martin is the author of The New Terrarium: Creating Beautiful Displays for Plants and Nature. Some of the plants Tovah puts in terrariums include orchids, mosses, ferns and even carnivorous plants. Plants that like it dark and love humidity do best. Tovah uses lots of different glass containers as terrariums, which can be found in your home. Tovah even uses a martini glass as a terrarium. She shows you how to make your own terrarium with rocks, charcoal and soil in the clip. Take a look:
First Lady Michelle Obama was in the new White House garden planting the first fruit and vegetable seedlings. She was assisted by a group of excited fifth-graders who tend to a similar garden at their school.
Take a look:
You can literally watch your garden grow with the Brinno Timelapse Garden Video Camera. The camera takes a picture at a pre-determined interval and then plays them back as a movie so you can see your plants growing on your computer screen.
The camera takes a picture at one of six pre-determined intervals (five seconds to 24 hours) and combines them into a single 1280 x 1024 resolution AVI movie file for easy playback on a computer. It has a light sensor that turns off the camera at dusk and back on at dawn, allowing for continued video capture each day. Movies are timestamped and stored on the camera's removable 2GB USB flash drive, which can take up to 18,000 pictures. The camera's weather-resistant exterior enables operation between 122° F and 14° F. Four AA batteries (not included) provide up to four months of operation (using the one photo/hour setting). Includes ground stake.
The camera retails for $159.95 and can be purchased here from Hammacher Schlemmer. It reminds us a little of the Wingscapes BirdCam, except it is for plant watching instead of bird watching.
Target has teamed up with MIO to celebrate Earth Day with a line of gardening and outdoor products made from recycled/renewable materials. MIO's Target line will debut April 12th. Core 77 says the limited line will only be in Target stores for about a month. Inhabitat has some larger photos of the products here.
Gardening is getting a renewed interest during the recession as many consumers are deciding to grow their own vegetables. The National Gardening Association has estimated that the number of homes with vegetable gardens will increase more than 40% compared with two years ago. They've also reported the biggest jump in seed sales in nearly 30 years.
The Salt Lake Tribunereports Burpee's vegetable seed sales are up 20% and its organic seed sales are up 46%.
Burpee & Co., the country's largest seed retailer, reports that vegetable sales for January 2009 were up 20 percent from one year ago. Organic seed sales are up 46 percent from 2008.
A garden is worth the investment. Spending $50 for seeds and fertilizer now can produce more than $1,200 worth of food in a summer, according to Burpee officials.
First Lady Michelle Obama's recently broke ground on a new garden for the White House, which could get even more people interested in starting a home garden. The Today Show has an interesting article here about the return of victory gardens that also includes links to several gardening resources.
Here's a better shot of Michelle Obama in the new White House kitchen garden today. She's breaking ground for the new vegetable garden as part of her efforts to encourage healthy eating for children. We love the black patent leather boots. They feature two buckles and a stacked heel. They almost look like a motorcycle boot, but more feminine and done in black patent leather. Love them. You can see a map (in pdf format) of the layout of the new garden here. There's a video of the groundbreaking here.
Increasing food prices and concerns about food safety have some people transforming their front lawns into full gardens. The video below from the Associated Press calls this "edible landscaping." The AP says only a small number of people are doing this now but that the number is increasing. The AP says sales have jumped 40% for seed merchant W. Atlee Burpee, so there are definitely more people growing their own fruits and veggies. It isn't very useful though if it makes your yard look so messy or so overgrown that it lowers the value of your home. You have to be careful to strike a balance.
Tim Stark is a tomato farmer, blogger for Gourmet and the author of a book named Heirloom. NPR has an article where Tim Stark talks about how an an atmosphere of stress and chaos was good for his tomatoes.
What I brought to this market was a ragtag lot: Black Krim, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Zapotec Pleated, Extra Eros Zlatolaska. They were zippered, cracked and hopelessly mottled.
But those tomatoes developed a following. Customers had grown suspicious of the fire-engine red variety: over-irrigated, sprayed at the first sign of disease, pumped up with fertilizer, pampered like a bottle-fed baby. My tomatoes had to compensate and persevere, dig for their minerals and water, find their own way. The patches of black, the concentric scars, the multiple signs of tomato suffering, showed strength and flavor. I couldn't help but notice how my tomatoes responded to me in ways that women and bosses never had. My tomatoes needed me, and I needed them.
For 10 years, I've made a living from tomatoes. It's not a bad life, even though I threaten to quit each year. But things have gotten better since I started out. These days, at the peak of summer, I get four hours of sleep where once I got two. I believe in managed stress. It sweetens the tomatoes. I like to think it sweetens me, too.
In the video below Tim Stark teaches Harry Smith how to find some of the season's best tomato picks.
The New York Botanical Garden has a fantastic new exhibit called Darwin's Garden: An Evolutionary Adventure. The exhibit tells the story of Darwin's
lifelong fascination and work with plants, which led to his revolutionary theories.
The exhibition in the Haupt Conservatory focuses on Darwin's work with living plants, recreating Darwin's own backyard garden, greenhouse, and experimental beds where he conducted botanical research. It tells the story of how careful observation of the plants in his garden and greenhouse inspired Darwin's groundbreaking thinking about natural selection and evolution.
The exhibition re-creates Darwin's gardens at Down House, his home in England, and the surrounding orchards and meadows where the naturalist made many scientific observations. Primroses, insectivorous plants, orchids, and climbing plants, all subjects of Darwin's research and writings, are featured in the exhibition. Other plants illustrate the role plants played in the evolution of Darwin's ideas and bring to life the kitchen garden at Down House as well as the famous "sandwalk" where Darwin made careful observation of nature and plants, the basis for much of his break-through thinking.
The New York Times has an excellent article about this exhibit with a slide show of the actual garden.
To find out more about the exhibit and buy tickets, visit the official website.
Unique and antique garden decor can enhance the appeal of a garden. The hunt for unique garden antiques has grown over the past 15 years according to experts. According to an article in The Plain Dealer, some of the most popular garden decor items include garden sculptures, containers and benches. Other garden decor ideas include sprinkling cans, old gates and
armillary spheres.
Garden features and ornaments such as statues, urns, fountains, benches and arbors are becoming more commonplace in our yards. Outdoor decor can make a lawn or garden more beautiful, but be careful not to use so much decor that you compete with the natural beauty of your garden or yard.
Tomato plants are being pulled from store shelves so that an airborne disease cannot sicken other plants. The 
Gardening is getting a renewed interest during the recession as many consumers are deciding to grow their own vegetables. The National Gardening Association has estimated that the number of homes with vegetable gardens will 
Tim Stark is a tomato farmer, blogger for Gourmet and the author of a book named 
The New York Botanical Garden has a fantastic new exhibit called Darwin's Garden: An Evolutionary Adventure. The exhibit tells the story of Darwin's
lifelong fascination and work with plants, which led to his revolutionary theories.
