I'm not quite sure what went wrong where. It had such great potential and the first fruits were promising. Even now we have plentiful vines and plants, but not much fruit.
I've seen little buds on my bell peppers for a long while now, but nothing will grow past that point.
My cucumber plants are spreading out everywhere, but no cucumbers to be seen. (I've seen flowers and bees, so I don't think it's lack of pollination).
Our zucchini plants are gigantic, but in the last week the leaves have started turning white. I think it's powdery mildew. Not only that, but we've been getting a lot of zucchini starters and then they either shrivel up and die at about 3 inches, or they rot and turn brown at that same point.
Our yellow squash plants have withered away, I think due to some sort of fungus.
Our tomato plants just haven't done anything at all (I think there was too much rain and not enough sun in the first part of the summer).
The bush bean plants look great, but there just aren't many beans at all.
Our root plants like turnips, radishes, onions, and carrots just didn't thrive really.
The only thing that's been producing a lot are the sugar snap peas.
I just don't know where we've gone wrong. I need to learn so next year is more productive.
9 comments:
have you gone to a garden center or nursery? Usually they have something for white mildew (not bleach) and they would be able to tell you what went wrong. This is the first year of your garden...maybe next year put some fertilizer in the soil. You could even try some plant food (they have some specifically for veggies). My cucumbers haven't been too successful only 3 or 4. Are you watering them at the base of the plant? I think that is why there was so much mildue because I sprayed all over the foilage. good luck!
We have soaker hoses in the garden, but they do get hit on top by our sprinklers once a week. We really enriched our soil since TX soil is mostly clay. We did a mixture of peat moss and compost that we tilled into the ground. I should probably go to a nursery and ask what my problem is.
I highly recommend calling your local extension agent. They can come do a soil test (for a very reasonable fee, I understand) for you so you know exactly what soil you're dealing with. They are local experts and know all about the specific gardening issues that are common in your area. We had some spider issues in our apt last year and I wanted to identify some of them so I took picts, emailed them and within two hours they called me to tell me what they were and how to deal with them. I am a big fan of the county extension office. Good luck!
I am so sorry! Our garden seems to have a somewhat similar problem with some of the plants--the strawberry plants are huge but we have gotten very little fruit, the tomato in the Earth box was huge, it shriveled away but it full of green tomatoes. Very frustrating. The only plant really doing well is the zucchini.
Sounds like you might need some sort of fertilizer.
I was going to suggest the same as Jessica.
http://agnews.tamu.edu/dailynews/stories/HORT/Dec2602a.htm
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Fairies. Hire fairies.
Too much rain perhaps? If you can believe it, we have had too much rain. And hail. We came home to a garden that was pretty beat up.
Maybe Theric could enlighten us as to where we could actually hire the fairies. I would like to hire some to catch all the hail and throw it on the lawn.
I feel ya girl. I went to the nursery and asked for "flowers that I can't kill." I potted them with the special soil and put them in the sun on our deck and watered them once in a while. They all shriveled up eventually and the spiders covered the whole pot in webs! Gross. I'd like to blame the lady at the nursery but, history tells me I am at fault. Sorry, no green thumb here. I can't even grow basil, which they say "grows like a weed." psh.
i have no comments on vegetables, since i have never been very good, but i did find two very hardy flowers that are pretty hard to kill for coleen. the main one is petunias. that's why they are everywhere and half of the tables in the nursery are covered with them. If you want something to mix in, blue victoria salvia is another good annual. i think miracle gro plant food is really good too.
good luck next year. i am guessing that it is just really hard to figure out a new climate with such EXTREME weather. they can't just be a little hot or a little humid or get a little rain in TX. they insist on 100% humidity and severe flooding.
my neighbor just called to ask if i want her extra tomatoes, zucchini, crook neck squash, etc. i feel a little guilty just taking the "fruits" of her hard labors after not putting in hard work in a garden all summer. maybe i can send some to you.
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