1st tomatoes, raspberries, sad aphids

I ate my first two fresh tomatoes of 2009 today! They were sun golds, started (I believe) at the same time as sweet 100's, which are slower this year. Renee's January tomato is turning red, so I suspect next year I will have earlier tomatoes, following her example of starting seeds in January.

I ate my first two raspberries yesterday, and 3.5 raspberries today. I'm not sure who ate the other half, but I doubt he has the flu. My human neighbor and I are beginning to nibble on blueberries, hoping to eat more than the birds. It looks like there will be enough for all.

When I surveyed my collards on Wednesday, I saw they had completely capitulated to the black aphids. I salvaged some leaves to be carefully washed when I'm listening to "Democracy Now," and pulled out the plants. This is early to give up on collards; I should have cut away the aphids earlier. Alas, now the woodchuck apparently has nibbled on the carrot tops and downright gobbled some volunteer greens, both of which apparently had been protected by the nearby collards.

On the other hand, the aphids were beginning to live on the tips of the grape vines, so maybe taking away the collards was prudent. Not to repeat my collards error, I clipped the aphid-ridden parts of the vines and took them to the compost heap.

Several of you observed that lady bugs eat aphids. Yes, I think that's true. Someone wrote they are available at Plochs. Good idea! One year not long ago I was almost overridden with ladybugs, but I haven't seen one this year. Maybe I didn't feed them enough aphids last year. I don't ever remember having so many aphids before. Their effects are not so dramatic as the woodchucks', but...

Think about tomatoes and raspberries, Pat!

Pat