First time garden questions

As I stated in the the subject, this is my first year to have a vegetable garden in my life (longer than I want to admit). I planted tomatoes, cucumbers and yellow squash mainly, with a couple of bell pepper, strawberry and watermelon plants thrown in for good measure. I'm just south of Dallas, so I'm in Zone 8 (dunno if a or b exactly, but I *think* b). ANYWAY. First question is, I have TONS of flowers on my cucumbers and squash plants, but so far no veggie growth. Do I need to fertilize or what? And related to that, I think (actually I'm pretty sure) that I planted them WAY too close together.....is it too late now that everything is flowering to thin them out or what? And would that help them to progress from the "flower" stage to the "grow the veggie" stage? Final question is, my tomato plants are HUGE (like almost 5' tall), but I only have one - yep, ONE - tomato growing so far. We've had *lots* of rain here, so maybe they just aren't getting enough sun lately? Oh, and I didn't pick the *ideal* spot for my garden either, although as huge as the plants are I guess it wasn't totally bad. I just planted before the trees all budded out completely, so I wasn't aware of how shady it could get back there (we just bought our house in January).

Anyway, I know this is a bunch of questions, I'll be grateful for any feedback. Thanks!

Hi Chantilly,
You wrote;"I have TONS of flowers on my cucumbers and squash plants, but so far no veggie growth.

Do you have bees? Both squash and cukes need help with pollination, unlike some other veggies. I have seen very few bees this year, so have been attempting to "assist". You need to take the pollen from the male flowers ( stem attaches directly to the flower) and transfer it to the female (with a tiny fruit between stem and flower) flower. You can do this with your finger, and small paint brush, ar, as I do, smoosh the male flower (petals removed) around in the female flower. It's working okay with the squash, but not so well with the cukes. I wouldn't try to transplant at this point, how close together are they?

and then;" my tomato plants are HUGE (like almost 5' tall), but I only have one - yep, ONE - tomato growing

My first thoughts on that are to ask if you've been fertilizing? Too much nitrogen can cause huge, lush, plants, with few blooms and little fruit. How many flowers are you seeing? Could be that the rain is preventing the tomatoes from fertilizing themselves. If you have flowers, and mornings that are dry, try tapping or shaking the plants to shake the pollen loose.

Good luck,
and Good Gardening,
Margo

Thanks for the advice...

I haven't seen many bees, now that I think of it, so I'll try your suggestion for the squash and cucumbers. As to fertilizing, we haven't fertilized in quite a while, but the soil where we planted is very rich. I have absolutely no idea if it's got a lot of nitrogen in it or not. I'll try shaking the plants a little when we have some dry days.

Thanks again!

Chantilly

Hi guy's, BEES, just thought I would mention that we watched a program on TV just last week about a huge problem with bees dying, in fact, people who keep hives and earn there living from the honey in USA, are in a bad way as their whole hives are dying, gov cant find out why YET, but it is all over europe and we have a prob here in UK, as a small parasite burries its larve into the bee and causes death, I also last summer found quite a lot of dead bees laying on my lawn area and they looked healthy bees, but just crawled and died. so everyone may have a pollinating problem soon if they dont find out what's causing the problems, thought you might like to know this, good luck with your veg chantilly, your gona love the taste of garden ready food, happy gardening. WeeNel.

Wish I could help but it sounds like to little sun and to much rain and rich soil. Mine have done good but they do need sunshine and some water but can get to much. I like for mine to be full of tomatoes as soon as they are about 2 ft. tall. My bush early girl is that way. If I can be of help, let me know. Gn

I'm getting really discouraged. Is it too late to start all over?

Why? are your plants dead ? If not alittle patience and benign neglect may be all you need. The nitrogen imbalance does cause excessive growth. Tomatoes set best when stressed. You may also have planted one of the large late maturing cultivars. Many of the "heirlooms" are notorius for slow fruit set. If nitrogen imbalance is the problem the the addition of phosphate ( super phosphate or Bloom Booster will work) Tomatoes will tolerate some shade, it will slow them down but it wont stop them.

As for the cucurbits, you have time for a second or even third planting. They do need full sun and space. Crowding is detrimental. As for honeybees, squash were grown on this continent for centuries before the honeybee was imported. I always have enough Carpenter, bumble, squash, mason and like pollinators and have never needed honeybees.

Thanks! I needed that. OK, so should I think out my squash and cukes, because they all have TONS of flowers, but the flowers are just wilting away, not producing any veggies. And I guess I can be patient on my tomatoes; grrrrrr! I think the variety I planted this year was "big boy", if that's any help. Like I said originally, this is my very first time to plant a garden so I'm a little nervous.

Where the garden is at it gets, at best, partial sun, but it gets partial sun almost all day long if you get my drift.

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement. I'll keep on pluggin - or plantin, however the case may be :)

Laurie

Big Boy is not one of the humongous vines, but 6-8 ft tall is normal.

Hi Chantilly, if I were you, I would remove SOME or the flowers to try reduce some of the energy the plants are useing to flower, then later on, you might get more flowers and you can pollenate yourself if you cant get the fruit to set, are you sure there aint any tiny little bumps behind the flowers, normal for the flowers to drop off once the fruit has started to set, be a bit patient, it is only mid june, do you have a lot of greenery, maybe the insects cant find the flowers, just a few sugestions that could help, Good luck. WeeNel.

Chantilly, when you remove blooms (which I really don't recommend) make sure that you leave all the females (which will have a tiny fruit between the flower and the stem) and enough males that pollination is possible. My Pattypan started with all male flowers, so there was no possibility of fruit setting, but is doing fine now. Unless you are hand pollinating, you need all the pollen available possible for the pollinators to carry back and forth.
Margo

This message was edited Jun 19, 2007 7:03 AM

Hi guys.

First, seems like I have TONS of greenery, so I don't think that's a problem. And if it won't hurt anything, I'll take the advice of moving some of the plants, cuz it really does seem *crowded* back there.

And I'm not hand pollinating, I'm letting Mother Nature do all the work. I'm a very beginning beginner, if you catch my drift.....don't know if I'm quite ready for the by hand stuff :).

Anyway, thanks for the tips. I really love this group!

Laurie

what are some plants to start out with when starting your first garden? and where to get the seeds and stuff

Hello 123456asd, First prepare your grounds. Have an idea of the size of the garden and how much time you have to tend to your garden, you will need to spend time watering, weeding, thinning (if you direct sow) harvesting.....
Then make a list of the vegetables you and your family love.
Next visit your garden center. There may be plants and seedlings of your favorite veggies available, this makes it a whole lot easier as all you need to do is buy the plants and put them in the ground.
Check out the seed racks and make selection. Follow the cultural information listed on the package. Give your plants sufficient room to grow.
Better to start out small and expand as you gain experience.
Good Luck. Growing veggies is a lot a fun and the flavor is just out of this world.
Do visit your library and borrow books on growing vegetables.

luv2wok covered that very well:). I'd say some of the easiest and most rewarding for me were tomaotes (but, then, I'm addicted) radishes, lettuces, beans and summer squash.

Keep us posted...