Worst Garden Ever

[gixxerific]

Thanks Jal that is what I intend to do. I'm already planning for next years garden and this one hasn't even started yet. I should have tilled deeply last fall, I'm pretty sure I didn't. I will be adding another row, which I have already started to sheet mulch. So I will give it all a good workout this fall.

It should be great next year, but that is what I said last year. Who know there is still time it may still be great this year. I just have to stop being so hard on myself.

[applestar]

It'll get there, Gixx. My goal is to leave this property in better condition than I found it -- in terms of soil biology, environment and habitat, natural community, and productivity. You're already well on your way.

Jbest is right. Only stalks that can be persistent are corn, and those I just leave in place and plant around, unless I HAVE to put something there or the stalks keep getting in the way, then I cut those flying buttress roots and they just fall over. Even sunflower stalks are ready to come out by spring. I just bury the 1/2 decayed stem along the border or put them in the compost pile.

I throw out in trash any tomato stalks that had suffered disease but leave the roots in place. I don't plant tomatoes in the same spot the following year. Same with potatoes. I'm not as consistent with peppers and eggplants, but I'll follow the same regimen if they get diseased.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Containerized plants can be really finicky about coming out of the root ball and soil they have been in for a long time; we call this a soil interface and it can be a real setback for a plant. I think John might well be on to something...

I think you might have hit on it yourself to some degree, Gixx. Too much unfinished compost could be causing nitrogen lock as the bacteria propagate to finish the digesting job. If that is the case some hay (as I have often suggested) will add a huge shot of cililates that will tear into a big bacterial population and start some nitrogen release. You can be dumping on nitrogen and only locking it up in bacteria; protozoa are our first line of predatory nitrogen looping for bacteria...

I suspect the combination of the two might produce the results you are seeing... organics is complex, and you need to get a lot of things right to get it to all line up, but at least it gets easier every year... We'll help Gixx...

Umm... man-hug (high-shake in between, with back thump)

HG

[gixxerific]

I have 0 cash but there is a place 2 minutes selling straw. WE shall see how things go.

I believe the container may have something to do with it. But than again the same containerized potted plants are in bigger containers and all are about 3 feet + tall just setting fruit this week, all with bagged soil and very little fertilization. The ones in pots are a diff variety if that matters and from what I read they (spirodonovskie) are only supposed to get about 2 foot tall.

But it's not just the toms doing poorly so are some other things. It is growing but slowly. Maybe the bacteria are catching up with themselves. Or the compost is mellowing out I should say.


Side note: My peas and potatoes are doing good so far (in the ground). And my onions and carrots in pots are 30-40 times bigger than the ones in the ground.

[lakngulf]

I fill your pain, gix. Last year I kept looking at my garden and saying "What the xxxx" Squash plants just sat there, tomato plants would wilt and die, etc. Very discouraging after so many years of just great produce. But that was probably the biggest problem.....so many years.

This year I brought I top soil from some old farm land, actually moved some of the existing soil and replace it with the new top soil. At other spots I just worked the new soil in with the old. I put the rippers on a box blade at full length and ran thru the garden as much as I could. Also, I build two long boxes that have only a layer of sand and the new top soil.

Most of the garden is doing great (I need a fingers crossed emoticon) BUT three or four tomato plants are just sitting there. There are about six plants in a row, two are thriving, and the others just sit. All other plants in the garden are doing fairly well. Needless to say this area will be dug out and replaced.

Good luck with it. Maybe the warm weather will cure it all.

[gixxerific]

I just thought of something it hasn't been overly warm or overly cool here. I keep saying my tom's in the 10 gallon black pots are doing better. Maybe that is because the soil is warmer in the pots .

[garden5]

I just thought of something it hasn't been overly warm or overly cool here. I keep saying my tom's in the 10 gallon black pots are doing better. Maybe that is because the soil is warmer in the pots .

Now you're on to something, Gix! That could easily be the case. I've always heard that tomatoes that are planted in the cooler weather will kind of just sit and languish...until it warms up. They will then really take off once the weather has warmed.

I'd wait to see what happens when the weather gets consistently warm. If there is still little growth, then I'd start to be concerned. I'm sure you'll still have a great garden this year.

Good luck.

[The Helpful Gardener]

"In the beginning of August, the rice plants in the neighbors fields are already waist high, while the rice plants in my field are only about half that size. People who visit here are always sceptical and ask, "Fukuoka-san is the rice going to turn out alright?" "Sure" I answer. "No need to worry."

I do not try to raise tall fast growing plants with big leaves. Instead I keep the plants as compact as possible. Keep the head small, do not overnourish the plant. and let them grow true to the natural form of the rice plant.

Masanobu Fukuoka, One Straw Revolution



HG

[gixxerific]

"In the beginning of August, the rice plants in the neighbors fields are already waist high, while the rice plants in my field are only about half that size. People who visit here are always skeptical and ask, "Fukuoka-san is the rice going to turn out alright?" "Sure" I answer. "No need to worry."

I do not try to raise tall fast growing plants with big leaves. Instead I keep the plants as compact as possible. Keep the head small, do not overnourish the plant. and let them grow true to the natural form of the rice plant.

Masanobu Fukuoka, One Straw Revolution



HG

Yeah that's...... uhhhh...... what I'm ...... uhhhh...... doing..... yeah that's it.

You got me, I couldn't pull the wool over your eyes.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Gixx, I'm just sayin' (like it says on the cover of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy)...

DON'T PANIC!

HG

[gixxerific]

Gixx, I'm just sayin' (like it says on the cover of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy)...

DON'T PANIC!

HG

Great book/series. We really need to hang, we have a lot in common.

But yeah I feel ya. I'm probably just getting nervous. It's been rough lately and nothing is going right, so why would the garden.

I think it might be coming around but still I have never ever seen it this rough in the beginning before trying all these new techniques. Live and learn.