HelpfulGardener.com

Hi everyone, first time gardener here! I had a great time starting my outdoor garden this past June in pots and using good soil from the local nursery. All of my plants looked pretty healthy all summer long, despite the drought-like conditions and gave me some great veggies. Now it appears that they're slowly dying.

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The tomato plant. The bottom leaves pretty much turned dry and fell off, leaving the plant looking pretty spindly.

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The cucumber plant. It gave me some amazing cukes and than late August it became covered in white mildew and so I pruned it and this sad looking thing is all that is left. The mushrooms growing in the pot keeping coming back no matter how many times I pull them out.

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The winter squash. This plant has never actually produced any squash but it used to be really pretty and green, with big orange flowers. Now it's going the way of the cucumber plant, covered in white mildew patches on some leaves.

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Strawberries. The outer leaf edges have turned rust colored. There is no more fruit being produced.

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The eggplant. Gave me one sizable eggplant and several flowers that failed to mature. It's kind of starting to look very dull and not as vibrantly green.

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The pepper. It looks like it's been eaten by something and it was covered with little red dots, like mites of some sort.


It's still warm here in LA, with afternoon temperatures of around 80 to 85 degrees and evening temperatures around 55 to 60 degrees. The only real difference in the potted garden has been that now it's not getting much sunlight, whereas before it was getting tons of afternoon light, but there's not much I can do about that. Should I toss these plants and start fresh different plants? Or maybe just pull them and replant them in different soil?

I appreciate any and all advice/tips/tricks. Thanks so much!

You could try starting with new plants and new soil, but nothing will grow well or produce fruit unless it receives sufficient sunlight. For most food plants, the minimum is 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. Some plants can get by on 4 hours of sunlight, but you'll get sturdier plants and a better harvest with 6 hours.

If you start with new plants and new soil, would it be possible to move them to a new area that gets sufficient sunlight this time of year?

Be sure all your pots have plenty of drainage holes; use a good potting mix, not soil from your yard; and be careful to water properly, not too much nor too little. The pot where the mushrooms grow (presuming it has drainage holes in the bottom) may be being overwatered, or else the soil is too heavy and stays wet too long.

HTH!