What's happening in the garden is not what anyone could have anticipated. It's not the imagined scenario as I babied minuscule seeds in tiny pots, watered them and turned them to face the sun. I escorted them outdoors, getting them used to soft breezes, light showers and unfiltered light. When the plants were larger, I tucked them into deep, generous holes, then watered, fertilized and weeded them. I gave them everything.

My summer culminates in tomatoes. Bushels of tomatoes. Just-ripe -- not over -- a touch crisp and warm from the sun, cut into slabs and plopped onto my plate. Drizzled with coarse salt, olive oil and nothing else.

Yeah, well. Not this year.

I know. Some people have tomatoes. Some farmers have tomatoes because they don't farm organically and can spray fungicides on their crops. Organic farmers have fewer options. Plus, tomatoes are ripening more slowly due to the cooler-than-normal temps.

Then some people, like me, are watching tomato vines freckle with brown blotches, leaves shriveling up, blossoms turning brown and falling off, tomatoes developing strange leathery patches on their shoulders.

It's late blight. As opposed to early blight and yes, I have that, too. But late blight starts at the top.

There is a particular smell people notice, said Lee Young, Washington County's Penn State Cooperative Extension director. "Sharp and tangy."

Eww. I hadn't noticed that but I did see that even the tomato hornworms were not around. There is a sense of gloom and decay in the tomato patch. Even plants with shiny green tomatoes have gray-brown shriveled spots on their leaves. It's just a matter of time.

"The early blight," Ms. Young explained, "we see every year. It overwinters in plant debris, appearing on the lower leaves. They turn yellow and brown and fall off. It's more severe this year, due to the cool, damp weather."

When leaves drop off, the fruit has no protection from the sun and may not ripen properly.

"The late blight, Phytophthora, is spread through airborne spores," said Ms. Young. "It's been with us for decades but this year, due to increased interest in gardening and the weather, it has spread. Spores can travel 50 to 100 miles, dropping down onto plants. You see disease first on the upper parts of plants, starting with large irregular-shaped lesions on leaves, which turn dark gray, then spots on the stems.

"It's terminal," she said.

I've heard about the blight for months now, but we've been so dry. I thought we were safe.

David and I got to work, pulling out my beloved Brandywines, snipping off the green tomatoes, laying them on sheets of newspaper to hopefully ripen.

Ideally, we should have covered the plant with a plastic garbage bag from the top, but these were huge plants. The most important thing, explained Ms. Young, is to pull out the plant, disturbing it as little as possible so the spores don't spread, then leave it to die.

"Once the plant is out the disease will not live in the soil," said Ms. Young. "Late blight does not overwinter. It does not live in the seeds."

So, some good news along with the bad. Except late blight can overwinter in potatoes, so all those must be dug up. Potato blight can occur before or after harvest. It's an irregular, dry, brown rot on the surface. If you often replant potatoes, don't, unless tubers are disease-free. New seed potatoes will give you a clean start.

Can I eat my tomatoes? I asked Greene County's Extension director, Carolyn A. Wissenbach. The answer is probably yes, if you see no disease. I cut open some tomatoes that had a patch of blight on top but looked otherwise sound. Rot had spread throughout, dark and ugly. Not what I wanted to eat. The green tomatoes I'd so carefully saved could or could not develop blight.

Ms. Wissenbach warns not to can or freeze any tomatoes or potatoes with disease. Even if you cut off the bad parts. "The tissue damage could promote the growth of other microorganisms," she said.

So, instead of harvesting tomatoes, I'm pretending it's spring. After this August heat wave, that is.

My husband is going to till up a bed or two. I'll be planting radishes, turnips, nasturtiums, red Russian kale, purple mizuna and leeks. They may not all flourish but at least something will be growing in my garden.

Lee Young hopes that gardeners don't become disheartened.

"Next year is a brave new gardening year, a blank slate. We start over."

PG tested

Have you noticed how delicious the peaches are this year? I made this salad with Cherokee Purple tomatoes I begged off a friend. Make it just with peaches if they're all you have. I didn't peel them.

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons honey
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons chopped red onion
• 2 large firm-ripe peaches, peeled or not, halved, pitted, quartered and sliced 1/2-inch-thick crosswise
• 2 medium tomatoes, quartered, cored and sliced 1/2-inch-thick crosswise
• 1 tablespoon slivered fresh lemon verbena or mint leaves

In salad bowl, mix oil, vinegar, lemon juice, honey and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in red onion. Add peaches, tomatoes and lemon verbena or mint; toss gently. Taste for seasoning and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

-- Miriam Rubin