I turned on the grow lights this week, as soon as the rain set in. I have some galtonia, grasses and a couple of tree seed on the go. Not that the rain stops me from working out doors.

You don't have to replace the straw, but you might lay down another layer if necessary to make it about 2" thick. Alternaria doesn't generate spores on dead plant matter, so if it's thick enough already that soil wouldn't have migrated up through the mulch with the rains, you should be fine there. There seems to be a lot of Alternaria blowing around with storms this year, so you may be doing everything right and still get it. Most of the people I see on the forum are relying heavily on spraying to get it under control, either chlorothalonil or Serenade. The fruit is rarely affected much by Alternaria, though it can get a collar rot around the stem occasionally. Most of the time it should be just fine. The cautions last year were because late blight (that's Phytophthora, a different critter) can spread and kill off plant tissues so fast that the acid balance of the fruit is altered. Since tomatoes are often on the borderline of safe pH for canning, anything that disrupts that acid balance can make them unsafe for boiling water bath processing. The bacteria that can grow in low-acid foods is Botulinum, which is so toxic the risk needs to be taken quite seriously. --Alison

You know, Beverly, I knew it in my gut and I went right out and dug it up. Then spent an hour at least, pulling out roots. It was tough to get out because it was entanglEd in troo roots, grrrrrrrr! Now I have to sanitize and think about planting an entirely different type of plant there. Covered it so it doesn’t become potty for all my cats! 😸

This is a little off topic, maybe I should start a new thread, but has anyone noticed one of the most obnoxious pro-trolls jumping on EVERYONE about not starting a new thread? Even people who haven't started more than one. Even threads that have no real comments or advice yet. It' so obnoxious. And we all know how difficult it can be to find threads once they've gone off the page; no wonder people start another. I can see asking people to stop posting multiple threads, simply asking the same question, maybe hoping to get different or better advice, but this woman is really off the charts with her demanding attitude.