SLC
Senior Member
Posts: 232
Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 9:18 pm
Location: Central Connecticut

New to gardening and having lots of problems - NEED HELP!!!

Hello, I hope someone out there can help me. First, let me explain.

I have always lived in an apartment and grew vegetables in pots, some successful, some not.

So last October, my boyfriend bought a house and I moved in with him. I got a really good seed starting system - good plant light, etc. and started my seeds on April 15. I planted broccoli, peppers, onions, corn, lettuce and marigolds. They started sprouting in 2 days! Within 7 days, everything had sprouted! I figured by May 15 I'd be ready to transplat outside, but my bf still hadn't tilled up a garden area for me. (It's HIS house, so he had to do it when he was ready.)

Finally, around June 1, he tilled up an area about 8'x22' for me. Then it rained. A couple days later, he tilled it up again and mixed in garden lime and peat moss. And then it rained the next day again.

And, it has been raining almost every day since then and now it's already June 17, and my plants still are not in the ground! It is pure mud out there. The back of the yard does not dry out as quickly as the front of the yard, but the back area is the only part that gets full sun. Anyway, I had to transplant all of my veggies (except for the onions) into small containers because they were outgrowing the kit. And when I did, they started growing better. One of my peppers already has a flower blooming!

Anyway, back to the mud. I was out there today trying to rake and it's just mud and it smells like a swamp. Is that bad? It smells like when I was a kid and I'd go to the beach at the lake. And so many different insects! I saw ants, spiders, flies, these very small green jumping/flying things, worms, centipedes, beetles, etc. So many different insects!!! Yuck!

What I was thinking of doing was putting some plastic edging up and putting down some garden soil just to have something "dry" so I could at least get my plants in the ground before the end of summer! My lettuce is growing out of control in it's little pot (about 3" x 3") and now I am afraid it's too hot out (in the 80s pretty much) for it to grow properly.

I was going to start some other seeds from scratch like green beans, sugar snap peas, some more corn, lettuce and onions.

With all these problems, does my garden have any kind of chance at all?

Should I try the garden soil on top idea?

Is the bad smell bad?

What should I do?

Should I get something for the bugs? I have Sevin to spray on the leaves, will that hellp?

Or is it too late to even plant? Should I give up?

It stays warm enough here until October.

Please help with any advice, thank you!!!
Last edited by SLC on Sat Jun 18, 2011 8:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

hit or miss
Green Thumb
Posts: 354
Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 4:57 pm
Location: central Kansas

I'd go ahead and plant right into the mud! The plants will at least have a fighting chance then. Don't worry about the bugs, all gardens have bugs and they aren't a problem until they start to eat the plants. That's when you worry about them. You are probably a little too late for cool season plants like peas.

Good luck!

orgoveg
Green Thumb
Posts: 468
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:06 pm
Location: Ohio

Personally, I would just go ahead and plant everything, even if it is in the mud. I'd lay down boards to walk on. Whatever happens will be better than what you'd get if you give up. Then, hopefully the rains will return to normal.

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SPierce
Greener Thumb
Posts: 732
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:57 am
Location: Massachusetts

I'm a state away from you, and I planted in the rain, basically, may 11th. I know it's muddy and yucky, but the rain isn't going to stop any time soon. get in there on the one day that has sun, and get your plants in the ground so you can have some veggies!

bogydave
Senior Member
Posts: 197
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:11 pm
Location: Alaska

"Or is it too late to even plant? Should I give up? "
Plant, start making compost to amend the soil for better drainage as you can

NEVER GIVE UP !!!!!
[img]https://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj269/bogydave/give_up2.gif[/img]

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Dasi
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jun 18, 2011 3:38 pm
Location: Hawaii

Try container gardening! I don't know how many plants you have but before overwhelming yourself or giving up altogether, gardening in pots is a convenient solution. From a very newbie gardener --->me to you :) the plants are basically caring for themselves. I was even given a cabbage, which I tried desperately to give away thinking cabbages in pots was just a crazy idea. My young daughter begged me to give it a go and here they are:

[url=https://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/DaSpecial1_2008/Cabbagewb.jpg][img]https://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/DaSpecial1_2008/th_Cabbagewb.jpg[/img][/url]

I planted only two cabbages but another actually branched up from the back plant, and I was surprised by a hidden cabbage in the back on the left side. You can't see it from the front.

My hidden surprise
[url=https://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/DaSpecial1_2008/caggage2wb.jpg][img]https://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/DaSpecial1_2008/th_caggage2wb.jpg[/img][/url]

A few other pics:

Tomatoes & Eggplants
[url=https://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/DaSpecial1_2008/TomEggplantwb.jpg][img]https://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/DaSpecial1_2008/th_TomEggplantwb.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=https://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/DaSpecial1_2008/Eggplantwb.jpg][img]https://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/DaSpecial1_2008/th_Eggplantwb.jpg[/img][/url]

Peppers
[url=https://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/DaSpecial1_2008/Pepperswb.jpg][img]https://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp31/DaSpecial1_2008/th_Pepperswb.jpg[/img][/url]

I have about 16 plants altogether some two to a pot as my back patio is not very large. It also cuts way down on garden pests. Your plans sounded lovely but when life sends you mud use pots 8).

While your enjoying your success with pots this year you can plan your backyard garden for next year. That way you can build your raised garden bed ahead of time, plan your plots and decor & arrange for drainage using this years' rainfall as a guide. You may even find that you prefer a few plants in containers to round out your garden.

Just a few grains of food for thought.

SLC
Senior Member
Posts: 232
Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 9:18 pm
Location: Central Connecticut

Thanx you all for all of your advice!

Dasi - I actually think I DO prefer container gardening! It's what I'd always done in my apartment, but this being my bf's house, I'm lucky I can plant at all. He doesn't want a bunch of pots in his yard. :?

So I'm gonna give in a try. I'll let you guys know how successful, or unsuccessful I am, and I will surely start earlier next year with a raised bed. He does say he will do that for me, next year...as he is very busy working on the house.

mansgirl
Senior Member
Posts: 173
Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2010 11:23 pm
Location: West Michigan

You'll be fine! Throw them in there and see what they do! It can't rain forever right? Michigan is having just a bad a time of it. Some of our farmers around here aren't even planting their corn or soybean crops this year because its just too wet. I'd say the plants will tell you what they need. If they look wet, amend the soil the best you can. You won't be out anything you wouldn't be by not planting. :)

dearmad
Full Member
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2010 9:51 pm
Location: Vancouver, WA

How is the drainage of the soil? Is it muddy because there's a layer of clay beneath where he tilled? Do you need to amend it? Don't waste labor and plants on a patch of dirt that's only going to doom them. Do you need to work some sand into the soil or organic material?

Not sure on the smell- is there some anaerobic decay going on?

Stop tilling the soil and turning it over, let the earthworms get in there and work on it. Soil isn't a commodity, it's a living organization of many different strata that need to develop in order to be healthy. Constantly turning it over is not going to help.

If the soil doesn't drain due to a lower level of something dense, consider raising some beds with some topsoil you bring in. A cubic yard would cover 8x22 very well and likely cost less than $30 from your local composter if you haul it yourself. Just heap it up in nice beds, make sure you lay out some paths so you don't trample the beds, and start planting.

pickupguy07
Senior Member
Posts: 253
Joined: Thu May 12, 2011 7:06 pm
Location: GA

bogydave wrote:Plant, start making compost to amend the soil for better drainage as you can

[/img]
I'd agree.. do the best you can now.. if you give up you get nothing... so anything thats makes veggies is a bonus.
As far as tilling the soil...
1) how deep did he till it..?? Maybe it's too shallow
2) did you put any ammendments in it (horse manure, etc to keep the soils loose
3).. I learned NEVER till the soil up when it is wet. It just dries out and becomes hard as a brick. Let it get dry and you'll have better soil to work with when you hoe the weeds, set out plants, etc. I'd say the plants would produce better also because the roots wouldn't have to fight against such hard soil.??



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