Horticulturist that dabbles in design : A day of discovery in the garden

The most exciting thing about gardening to me is there is always something new to discover. At times I feel like a plant detective, assessing the scene, collecting evidence and going to the lab to research the findings (i.e. my cabin, ha ha). This is the reason I love horticulture/gardening, you are always dealing with something new and trying to solve the problems. Gardeners are dedicated folk that tend to their precious plants in hopes to evade the lurking attackers hanging around the next bed. I write this because I was doing my regular morning garden assessment when I came upon some new discoveries. So, I received these grafted eggplants from a WSU organic vegetable class that’s main teaching focus was this new grafting technique on varieties that are susceptible to verticullium wilt (VW). I received four plants all of which were grafted using a different technique to test the resistance to VW. They are all planted in the greenhouse so the temp stays warm as the weather here fluctuates and eggplants like it hot. Well, I was excited to see that flowers were forming and possible eggplant eating in the future. Yet, as I was assessing this morning three out of the four plants are slower growing and have yellow limp leaves, ugh! Then I was looking over the tomatoes when I discovered more VW devastation and to top it off the newly planted lettuce has vanished with no evidence of the culprit. All this news doesn’t deter me from gardening, it makes me want to keep, keeping on as my great grandmother would have said.