Ag Extenstion Agent Visits

Al Cooke, Chatham County agriculture extension agent extraordinaire, paid a visit to my garden this morning.  Unfortunately, he was at a loss as to what is going on with the "failure to thrive" bed.  There's no evidence of disease or any other obvious problem.  So my plan is to harvest the beets that are currently growing in the bed.  Give the soil a good turn-over / mix. Then follow the advice of the NCDA agronomist, i.e. apply elemental sulfur to reduce the pH level.

While he was here, I asked Al take a look at my blueberry bushes.  They seem to be a bit on the yellow side. He said it looks like a typical iron deficiency, which is odd, because our soil here in central NC is not naturally low in iron.  It has plenty of iron.  That's why it's red! It was so easy to send soil samples to the department of agriculture, and it's a free service.  I think I'll collect a sample from the blueberry bed and see what the experts recommend.

Al gave me a nice compliment.  He said it was nice to see a neat and productive garden!