Tell me it gets better...

Hi All,

Last spring I planted my first garden. I developed two types of planting beds, 1) raised beds and 2) ground beds (for lack of a better term). The "ground beds" were formed by amending the primarily Georgia red clay based existing dirt with Natures Helper and Mushroom Compost. The raised beds were roughly 40% Natures Helper/Mushroom Compost amended dirt and 60% enriched soil that was brought in from a company that supplies to landscapers.

I took soil samples of each bed and the results were off the chart in all areas of "good stuff." However the crops I planted seemed to take forever to develop and when they did for the most part everything was spindly and produced small amounts seemingly late in their season. My fall effort of turnips only produced one plant that fully developed. The rest never formed the bulb portion of the plants and only produced a couple of shoots each. The fall red peppers (4 plants) only produced one pepper that I harvested. At the time of our first frost, a couple of days ago, there were six small peppers on the plants but I can't imagine that they will ripen before the cold weather shuts everything down.

Spring carrots were only nubs, Chard never took off, and summer okra was very spindly and produced late in small amounts. Squash and Zucchini flowered up but fizzled quickly producing two zucs and one crooked neck squash between four plants. I've noticed similar behavior in a few flowers as well. Leggy.

What grew well was Egg Plant though it seemed to develop late in the summer. Tomatoes and also cucumbers produced pretty good. The Moon & Stars watermelons I planted produced runners from Atlanta to Macon but only grew two watermelons to maturity. Four more puny fellows went to the mulch at seasons end.

My best guess is that the soil is too rich. Is that possible? If so, should I "cut" everything with non enriched garden soil? Or what? I would appreciate any help as I am hoping things get better next spring. I've got more questions but maybe we should start with this... Many thanks. -Noland.

Sounds like we had very similar experiences. I was a beginner (still am) last spring too and had big time troubles. North Carolina clay wasn't kind to me, even after dumping tons of good soil into it. My potatoes did what your turnips did. I have heard carrots don't work unless in raised beds, but I haven't tried.

Anyone else have input, I could use the advice too!

Did you crowd your plants? That is the number one beginner mistake. You can have unbalance fertility, usually too much or too little nitrogen, Too much and you get all vegetation, too little, yellow spindly plants. The Jesup (Wayne county) area is a good growing area, usually requires no more than tilling the soil and adding a bit of fertilizer. Farmers grubbed a living off this land, long before all these fancy amendments were invented.

check out the straw bale gardening form for a easy way to garden. I learned years ago, if its hard I dont want to do it

Noland,

What kind of sun do your different beds get? If they are shaded, then it will be tough to get much production.

Thanks for the response everyone. Farmerdill, I'm now living in Decatur... just corrected my profile. You're right though about farmers grubbing out a living in Wayne County for generations. My family goes back to the beginning on both sides and many of them were farmers. I'm finding my way back to that way of life but, with my current skill set, I'm fortunate my family doesn't have to live off what I've harvested.

It's not the light, dreaves. I get full sun most of the day. And I don't think the plants are crowded, as I've stayed close to the guides, however; I'll probably give them a little more next spring. I'll see if I can locate my soil reports to see if anyone sees a red flag, but when I showed them to someone accustom to reading them he said that the soil looked great.

I'm sure I'll find my way. Thanks again for the support. - noland

Noland I am a new gardener too. This year was my second year to have a garden. One thing I did this year that proved a big eye opener for me (and really bolstered my confidence), is that I planted *two* gardens, miles away from each other, and got to see the differences and similarities between the two. One I planted at home, like I did last year, but the other I planted in a borrowed plot of a friend who is no longer able to garden. So I had her knowledge to draw on. The two areas have very different soil, micro climates and even water.

Some things I found:

Some varieties of peppers did famously - just like those same varieties did last year. But other varieties were miserable, both the ones here and the ones at my friend's place. After planting perhaps 8 different varieties of bell peppers, my experience has shown that Emerald Giants are The One for me. Six plants produced a couple hundred peppers both years, while other varieties made lovely shrubbery for months and finally produced an only pepper or three at the last minute. For you - and even for my neighbors - it might be a different variety that succeeds.

The successful peppers produced in both full sun and in half-day sun. The difference was that those in full sun turned red faster so I had more red ones as a bonus as well as baskets of green. I also learned that I can leave green peppers hanging on the plant until I am ready for them. They just grow larger or get ripe.

I've tried 20 different varieties of tomatoes in both places and all failed miserably both years. I know it can be done here because my neighbor across the street fills his yard with tomato plants every year. He has told me which variety he uses, and he cages his. Next year, I am going to follow his practices to a tee and see if I can actually produce a tomato.

Last year I planted snow peas and they were super! Last fall I planted English Peas and they failed. This year I planted edible pod peas and they didn't make at all. I'll go back to snow peas next year.

Last year I planted onions as the little round bulbs. My friend said "Oh no those will never make, you need to put out the little plants", so I bought little bunches and put them out too. He was right. The little bulbs were great green onions but never bulbed. The sets, little plants, did great! I planted more this year and grew enough onions that I may not have to buy any all year (we use onions every day). You are in the south like me so you need to be sure you get *SHORT DAY* varieties of onions if you want them to make bulbs.

This year I planted one kind of watermelon at my friend's place and another kind at home. Both produced, but the variety here was so very much better and far more prolific.

And so on and so forth. I guess my point is that the key to being a good gardener is experimenting and learning from experience. The more you do it, the more you will know what works for you and what you like the best. Keep trying and each year you'll have more successes to repeat from the year before. :-)

Tina

There's a lot of natural variability in results. I gardened this year same as always and got mediocre results for the effort. One thing I have learned is that I tend to do too much with amendments, fertilizer, etc, and that I get best results from a light touch.

A few catch phrases come to mind: "Some days chicken, some days feathers", "Sometime you're the windshield, sometime you're the bug", " You might catch the elevator or you might just get the shaft".

Stick with it.

Frank

Don't give up! Some years are great others not so great.This year the deer ate over 22 antique apple trees that I saved for two years to by.This was the first time I ever had a problem with deer but oh what a problem.

Thanks Tina,

Lots of good information, as was Frank's axioms and cowpea's heartbreak. About what I had known but always good to hear from those who have been doing the work. Spent an hour with the seed catalog and my journal tonight. I'm certain that at least by this time next year I'll have a little more information.

Remember noland, some fruits and veggies require different nutrients. As farmerdill said. So be sure to test every garden for nutrient levels when ground is completely thawed. Then add nutrients according to what you want to plant in which site. I like the idea of organic gardening a lot. So if you plant tomatoes and onions, plant peas and beans with them. They add nitrogen to the soil and the tomatoes and onions are heavy feeders. I will look up where I got my info for this and let you know where to look.

weedsfree

I just found that veggies planted in high organic matter are deficient in copper and the plants respond well with copper application.
http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=57&bhcd2=1260393506

I think this one has pretty valuable info
http://www.annettemcfarlane.com/vegetable.htm

Here is another that might help.
http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenproblems/a/NutrientDeficie.htm

Hi noland,

The first year of a new vegetable patch is like making that first pancake> The second one always turns out better! It will get easier from your experiences each season.

To add to what the other members have said, my first thought when reading your post too was that the soil may have been too rich for planting out straight away. Giving any new patch a few weeks of bare sunshine and a turnover is always a good idea.

Did you plant from seeds or seedlings?

As for the spindly growth, did the patches get at least 8 hours of full sun a day? Vegetables need A LOT of sun so be mindful of this when planting out so that taller plants to not shade smaller ones.

Mini greenhouses made from plastic bottles are great at keeping the heat in when popped over young plants (and retains moisture too).

You set yourself a big task with the large variety you planted out in your first year, and I agree that overcrowding may have been an issue. Did you map out where you planted everything? This will be important for crop rotation next season.

Hi Noland,
When you said you took soil samples of each bed and the results were off the chart in all areas of "good stuff." What exactly did you test for? Did you test for soil pH? Since your eggplants grew well, your soil may have a low pH.

Hi all,
I want to introduce myself. As you can see I live in a great growing zone here in Oregon.
In fact, if you plant it it will generally grow. I have been using various growing techniques for several years, none of them have been ground based systems. The place where I can put a garden doesn't have any good soil and little sun. I use raised beds, grow boxes, grow buckets and hay bales.
This year I discovered wading pools. They are cheap and will last for several years out in the open. They are made to stay in the sun.
Here is a gardening system that I highly recommend. As you will notice, this system mixes it's own soil and fertilizer.
http://www.foodforeveryone.org/gardening_course/
Here is a system I found on Dave's garden that I am going to modify by using the Mittleider soil and fertilizer, combined with the wading pools.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1029953/
Here is another site where you can gain a lot of information on straw bales.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/strawbale/all/
Have a Very merry Christmas!
Have a great time gardening. This time of year is great. We are all planning for next season. Paul

You might look to see if the varieties of veggies you grew were the right kind for your area. The things that do well in the north might not necessarily do well down in the south. Also, weather plays a big part in things. If you're too hot, too dry, too wet, too cold, at the wrong times, you'll not have great success.

I'm far from being an expert gardener; many of my plants fail. But here are several thoughts that may help.

Red clay has lots of iron, but not much calcium; so you may want to test for that or just add bone meal. In my experience, clay is also not really good soil for tomatoes. When I have been successful with tomatoes it was in sandy soil rich in organic matter. You might consider making your raised beds with sandy loam and growing tomatoes there.

It is sometimes possible to have too much "good stuff" in the soil. Too much of the wrong chemical form of nitrogen, for instance, will burn plants. And my guess is that too high a concentration of potassium and other electrolytes might make moisture uptake a little more difficult for the plants. It might also interfere with the uptake of essential minor nutrients. Attention to pH and to the "minor nutrients" like manganese, copper, boron, etc. might help a bit, too.

If you want to gain confidence, plant zucchini. In my experience, it rarely fails. And it tells you when it's time to water the garden.

Ha about the zucchini!! It'll die if the squash vine borers get to it!

Sometimes that doesn't happen. For example, I've gardened in TX, NJ, and AZ and it hasn't happened in my gardens. Of couse you are right that each place has things that do well and ones that do not. And part of gardening is discovering which is which. But when everything in the garden fails, it helps to:
1) think about trying different plants
2) think about trying different cultural methods.

Another thought, some times the seed is rubbish and thats not your fault as you probably spent good money in them. Tomatoes like tom thumb etc have a thinker skin so require less care. See if someone in your area has been saving seed, as it will be better adapted to your area.
looking up GA would assume georgia would be perfect for growing vegies.
keep trying!
i've been thinking about you late fruit;maybe you didn't sow early enough, as some plants need to be up asap. thats where seedlings can help, even though i prefer seeds and if you sow early enough i feel the seed sown plants quickly catch up

Hi mariannebags,
Your garden should in full roar in Australia shouldn't it? I hope you are having good weather down there.
Here in Oregon I am going to get my grow beds and buckets ready. February, I will start to plant some peas under my umbrellas and plan on the rest of the growies.
I am really excited this year, I finally feel like I can get out ahead of the season.
Planning and action right now will pay huge dividends later.
Our growing season in Oregon is really great. I generally wait until the rest of the U.S. gets going then I am too late for a lot of things that can be grown here.
Have a great Summer.
Paul.

yes, we are having great weather and actually got some good rain so the vegies are looking good. Its about 35 oC today. My pool is out of service at the moment which is annoying !
Yes, I think getting things in the ground is a good idea, especially if you need to beat the frost as the other end of the season.