Have you noticed that your well cared for tomatoes are starting to crack? To much water is most likely the culprit.

It has been a crazy summer here in the Hudson Valley. We’ve had some nasty hot weather but an unusual amount of rainfall. Today is August 18th and my cheap Target water gauge shows 6.61 inches of rain so far this month, on top of a wetter that usual July.

We all know that garden vegetables need water but the effects of too much water are almost identical to not enough water. The signs for an over-watered plants are:

• Lower leaves are yellow

• Plant looks wilted

• Roots will be rotting or stunted

• No new growth

• Young leaves will turn brown

• Soil will appear green (which is algae)

I was away for a few weeks and had a neighbor keep an eye on my garden. When I got home I noticed that many of the tomatoes were beginning to ripen but they all had cracks or breaks. I suspected over-watering and my neighbor confirm that she never once hit the hose. It was just the fact that heavy rainfall over saturated the garden.

The soil in my gardens drains really well and most summers this is enough to make sure I will not suffer crop damage from heavy rains. This just points out how much rain we’ve seen this summer and how you can never guarantee garden success.

In addition to cracked tomatoes, my cucumbers plants  showed signs of rotted roots and all my squash plants had yellowed and stopped producing fruit. Root crops like carrots and onions seemed to fair well, but I haven’t harvested potatoes yet and I’m a little worried about them.

When Mother Nature takes control of your garden there really isn’t much you can do. I do find that picking fruit before it totally ripens can save it. This drill works particularly well with tomatoes, and keeps them from getting picked apart by the birds. You just have to wait a bit longer for them to turn red.

Anyway, I just finished making some fresh tomatoes salsa, and you should do the same. Here’s my quick recipe.

In a food processor mix together:

• 4 ripe tomatoes quartered

• 1 large white onion quartered

• 1 hot pepper cut in half (remove seeds if you want to calm it down)

• 1 large red and green sweet pepper

• 1/2 small cucumber

• 3 cloves of garlic

• 1 cup cilantro

• 1 cup parsley

• 1 tbs olive oil

• 1 tbs lime juice

• 2 tbs tomato paste

• salt, pepper and chili powder to taste

Be sure to refrigerate for a few hours prior to serving. This way all those flavors blend in together.