Seacoast Eat Local

From Becky Sideman, UNH Extension Specialist:

Please see the following, reprinted from UMass Veg Notes:

Late Blight (Phytophthora infestans) Confirmed in LA, MD, and Northwestern PA

Isolated outbreaks of late blight have been confirmed in Louisiana, Maryland, and Northwestern Pennsylvania.  The original source of inoculum has not yet been identified.  Given the season last year, chances are good that P. infestans inoculum may have overwintered in infected potato tubers.  The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has been screening tomato transplants destined for the retail and wholesale markets and so far those samples have been negative. Several other suspect samples have been submitted to their Plant Disease Clinic and those have also been negative.  We have had no confirmed cases of late blight in MA this year.  The largely dry weather pattern over much of the state is not conducive to the spread of the organism that causes this disease, but it is critical to scout not only this year’s tomato and potato crops but also last year’s potato fields where infected tubers may have survived the winter and are sprouting infected volunteer plants.  Early identification and eradication of inoculum sources will help to reduce the likelihood of an outbreak later in the season if the weather favors disease development (rainy, cool, cloudy) for an extended period of time.
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If you think you may have late blight in your crops or on volunteer potato plants in old fields, please contact your county UNH Cooperative Extension office or the UNH Plant Diagnostic Lab at (603) 862-3841.

Becky Sideman
Assoc. Ext.Professor, Sustainable Horticulture
G48 Spaulding Hall, Durham NH 03824
FAX 603-862-2717
PH 603-862-3203
Durham NH 03824
(P) 603-862-3203 (F) 603-862-2717

Learn How to Compost at the Dover Cassily Community Garden, June 5 at 3pm

Thinking about making use of your food scraps at home or business? Come learn about back yard composting–why it’s important, how it benefits the environment and your wallet, how to do it, and how to use the finished product.

This workshop will be held on Saturday, June 5 at 3:00pm at the Dover Cassily Community Garden. Eva Christensen, owner of locally produced Earthtenders organic compost, will lead the workshop. Eva Christensen is the 2008 winner of the national H. Clark Gregory Award for grassroots efforts, and serves as a consultant for soil and agriculture projects with USAID, USDA, USEPA and the US Composting Council. Eva has kindly donated several yards of compost to the DCCG each of the last two years.

Registration is not required. Please contact EriC Kelsey for more information (603 438 4992). Donations to assist the Dover Cassily Community Garden’s efforts toward building stronger communities are welcome!

To get to the garden: From the 4-way stop of Chestnut St. and Sixth Street (north of the train station), go west on Sixth St. about 1/2 mile. Turn left on Hillside Dr. Down the hill you’ll see a dirt parking lot on the right with our green shed in the back. You can park anywhere in the lot. Signs direct you down a trail through the woods to a large 3-acre field where the garden resides. It’s a beautiful piece of land surrounded by forest with trails along the Cocheco River.