All has not been sunshine and happiness at Five Row recently.  100 of our cosmos plants developed root rot and have pretty much all died. They were such a sight in their glory; 6 ft tall, with so many blooms it was almost a bore! Root rot is irreversible but I tried to contain it, thinning the sick ones out and quarantining them in a massive pile in the outer field.  Being the Greenhorn that I am to farming, my despondency knew no bounds.  I felt like I was carrying sick kin out on to the veldt to die. The beautiful plants didn’t know they were dying and were still blooming like mad.

The farmers I work with tell me that farming is manic, one moment can be golden and the next beyond black. They also tell me that that’s often just what Cosmos do, they get huge and then they rot. Next year we will plant in rotation, and hopefully have them into fall. I think I’m pretty much over it now, and the pile in the field looks like it might make a good home for gophers.