Arch Enemy- What Can't You Grow

[ruggr10]

To go opposite of the other post that is your specialty, what do you keep trying to grow that isn't working for you. The bane of your existence, arch enemy, etc.

My arch enemy is Brussell Sprouts. I try and try and I never get any sprouts. I'm trying again so we'll see what happens!!

[Timlin]

I've never been able to grow brussel sprouts either and I've given up on them. I also have trouble with cauliflower but I suspect it's a space issue and I've stopped trying to grow them too. I need what little space I have for other things.

[nosta]

To go opposite of the other post that is your specialty, what do you keep trying to grow that isn't working for you. The bane of your existence, arch enemy, etc.

My arch enemy is Brussell Sprouts. I try and try and I never get any sprouts. I'm trying again so we'll see what happens!!

Same here. Tried to grow them 3 years straight and never worked out well. Maybe they arent well suited for SC.
I wasnt too disappointed though, I don't eat them. Tried them only because the wife loves them.

[orgoveg]

I can never defeat the vine borers long enough to grow any type of squash or melon. I think I harvested a grand total of one small watermelon and two small pumpkins over several years.

Since I tried Brussels Sprouts last year and failed, I guess I'll join that club too

[Flatlander_MB]

Count me in on brussells sprouts.

[SPierce]

I'm right there with ya on Brussels Sprouts - trying again this year with my own plants started from seed.

My other enemies are lettuce and onions. I just have terrible luck with both!

[mscratch]

hmmm..amazingly when we lived in Maine I could grow brussel sprouts..when you can get them in the ground say around end of May like the usual starting period for your area(?) or perhaps a couple weeks sooner and give them the water thru the summer months which I found were not exceedingly hot they will produce in the Fall very nicely and a light frost actually brings their flavor out..they will not grow in the South for me at all or Midwest, its just too hot and humid as they are a cool weather crop.. I cannot grow a decent lima bean in the Fordhook variety no matter where I have lived, I can grow those tasteless little bush varieties though.. must be because I don't use fish heads like my Grandfather did!!lol

[RogueRose]

I tried brussel sprouts last year. I think I planted them too early. I got nubbins but the sprouts never fully formed. However I was really super lazy about getting rid of the plants and the longer they stayed in the ground, the further up the sprouts came up later in the season so I'm going to try growing them later this year.

[Ruffsta]

lettuce from seed...

[PunkRotten]

Strangely I have been struggling to grow Mint. I have tried in pots, in the ground, semi shady areas, shady areas, sunny areas, kept with constant moist soil, and allowed to dry out. I tried all these combos so far and have not had anything take off.

[jnunez918]

I second the lettuce from seeds, kept damping off over and over

[barnhardt9999]

My arch enemy is what does grow. I made the mistake of putting a concrete block raised bed next to Bermuda grass. I think I am doomed to have bloody knuckles trying (in vain) to weed bermuda grass between the blocks for the rest of my life.

[stella1751]

Watermelon, but this will only be my third attempt in my current location. The soil takes too long to warm up, and I generally lose seedlings to a late May snow. Covering them just doesn't seem to work. I think they get depressed and just fade away.

This year will be the year I finally see success! The soil has been covered in black plastic for over a month, so it's gotta be warm by now. I had my neighbor build me a cold frame, so I plan to put out some tiny seedlings this weekend. (If they die, there is still time to shove seeds in there, too.) I'm growing a big variety that actually produces ripe ones in Utah so should work for Wyoming.

Warm soil + cold frame + climate-friendly variety = success. Achilles heel no longer. I'm gonna have ripe watermelon to eat in August this year!

[jal_ut]

Stella, I sure hope those melons work out for you.

Lessee, I guess eggplant gets my vote. Sure have no luck with it.

[stella1751]

Stella, I sure hope those melons work out for you.

You were dead on about the germination rate, jal_UT. You said 70%. I decided to go with three plants in that 8' x 4' bed, so I planted four seeds. Three germinated. They are maturing like a house-afire. I put them in some extremely tiny peat pots, so they must go in the cold frame on Saturday. They might not make it; those pots are small, and we have some cold weather still ahead, but I have tons of seeds left to play with.

Next year, I will NOT put watermelons under an arch enemy thread! The third time is the charm

[digitS']

Now that James and Stella have had something to admit to . . . olde tremblin' digitS' will weigh in:

Since it is probably a question of climate for Stella, I'll admit to melons - the season starts cool, is too short and the nights are cool throughout. I seem to be left with a Galia-type melon (Passport) and no other. It comes thru for me every year while even a very early Charentais will fail. Sugar Baby watermelons sometimes do not advance beyond the pink stage. Minnesota Midget might work (altho' it has failed in the past) but "success" doesn't mean a lot to me when I'm left with 1 softball-sized fruit/vine.

Eggplant development is interfered with by the cool temperatures (darn near everything else for that matter). The real problem I've had with them has been BUGS! Everything wants to chew or suck on them! I nearly always have to pull the seedlings out of the greenhouse to spray them - aphids find them even if they ignore everything else. Out in the garden, every bug in the county zeroes in on the eggplant. Spinosad worked well last year . . . after I'd decreased my commitment to just a handful of plants. Optimistic -- I'll have more eggplant in 2012!

Steve

[SPierce]

I'd like to retract lettuce as an enemy. Despite the fact that my original seedlings died, I have new baby seedlings with leaves and all sprouting, I noticed this morning. So before I label it an enemy, I'll give the ones out back a chance!

[Lintu]

I've never had much luck with tomatoes in the past, but our climate can be really back and forth on being ideal or completely terrible for them. I'm going to give it another shot this year with a variety that's known to be good in coastal CT and pray for a sunny summer!

[cherishedtiger]

Lettuce... of any variety... in any temp, soil, you name it. If it grows its not edible... the last bunch was so bitter... everything else I have tried has at least been somewhat edible. But lettuce, 3 years in a row cant get it...

[TheWaterbug]

I've never been able to grow brussel sprouts either and I've given up on them. I also have trouble with cauliflower but I suspect it's a space issue and I've stopped trying to grow them too. I need what little space I have for other things.

I've failed at Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli. It's a family of foes.

[lorax]

It's my climate more than the plants themselves that makes enemies for me....

Up here in the highlands, my enemy is clearly Kohlrabi (although I can grow fantastic cabbages, turnips, radishes, and romanesco), which steadfastly refuses to rab up for me. God knows I push zones like there's no tomorrow, and I've even been able to fruit bananas in my 10,000 foot elevation garden (which is said to be impossible), but Kohlrabi continues to defeat me.

[Brant]

The whole reason I got into gardening in the first place was to grow Bell Peppers and that seems to be the one thing that will not grow! I have so many problems; randomly wilting and dying for no apparent reason, bugs stripping off all the leaves, fruit setting but only getting the size of marbles, and fruit growing big (only a couple times) but then having inexplicable holes in their sides. For all the peppers I've attempted over the last four years, I've only ever got one decent pepper.

I am surprised to see lettuce and tomatoes on here. They grow like weeds for me and I'm not even a good gardener.

[NaeMo]

Don't laugh.


Cucumbers.


Every time I try them, I get something like 3 or 4, then the vines die. I know it's probably the vine borers that get others' melons. I would love to make pickles, but it just never works out for me.

Last year I tried brussels sprouts for the first time. The early ones were just loose leaves, and we ate the leaves. But I left several stalks out there during the fall/winter and we were eating lovely, delicious sprouts into January. I live in northern Missouri.

[Francis Barnswallow]

zucchini

SVB's always got to them. btw, I heard that SVB's don't come around until late June/early July. Is that true? Keep in mind that info came from the guy in my signature.

[rainbowgardener]

I don't have any trouble with lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, tomatoes. Have not tried brussels sprouts or eggplant, so I can't speak to that. But the zucchini is one that I can't grow, because I have not yet figured out a way to defeat the vine borers. If I work at it, I can slow them down enough that I actually get to eat some zucchini before they kill the plant...

[Gary350]

Arch Enema in TN is cold weather crops. Too much rain in the spring it is hard to plant early in mud and 2" of water in the garden. By the time I get something planted the weather changes to 100 degrees every day for 2 months. I plant for flavor anyway, so why plant something I can buy at the grocery store that is cheap and tastes just as good as the garden. Why plant things I don't eat or rarely eat. I stopped trying to plant cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, brussel sprouts, etc along ago it all goes to seed, gets bitter and I never get to eat it.

[ruggr10]

Peppers used to be an issue, but they need warm soil so I only grow them in 5 gallon buckets. Now they do great.


I tried celeriac last year... on a whim... not really an arch enemy but that was a bitter, bitter failure. I don't even know what I would have done with it had it grown. I got the seeds for free. I got plants, no roots.

[Avonnow]

Can't grow squash of any variety and I have the seeds to prove it, I should give them away, but I keep thinking it will happen one day and I can't grow potatoes. My potato plants in my book have past the point of no return, they look pathetic, I didn't even try squash this year, it is just too sad anymore.

[Ohio Tiller]

When are you planting them and when are you trying to harvest? Brussels sprouts They love cold weather and are best after they have been frosted on a couple times in late fall. This was from last fall I picked this after we had seen some snow.

[img]https://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j176/Johnfor3/brusselssprouts.jpg[/img]

[Francis Barnswallow]

Would brussels sprouts grow well during the winters where I'm at? I'm interested in growing veggies I've never grown before.

[Kim Smiley]

I planted in individual containers and although they were smaller than I have seen my Hubby said they were very good. Zone 10a. I harvested as needed and now they seem like they are almost done.

Question when do I know they are done for good or can I cut back and regrow for next season?

[Ohio Tiller]

Would brussels sprouts grow well during the winters where I'm at? I'm interested in growing veggies I've never grown before.

If your winter temps are in the 40 and 50 they will do real well.

[albucsfan]

Lettuce! I would really like to blame Alabama weather... But have had no success with either spring or fall plantings... Terrible

[applestar]

I didn't really want to contribute to this thread because when something doesn't grow well, I keep trying until I figure out what to do. So not growing at all changes to growing and producing but not as well as I want them to, to finally a harvest I can show off.

Sometimes its because you need to sow directly in the ground, or because you need to start earlier... Or later. Sometimes soil pH is a major factor.

For me the more troublesome ones are spinach/beets but I think I needed to add more lime than I thought I needed -- lettuce and carrots grows fine so I thought I was adjusting enough, but I suspect they need more. They are growing better this year.

SVB'S give me more grief. Summer squash I can get by by planting as early as I can and grabbing as much harvest as I can before they arrive, but winter squash and pumpkins have been a disaster. So I'm hoping C. moschata varieties will do better this year.

Heat-loving long season crops. I'm taking a break this year, but I'm still working on growing luffa.

And yes, Brussels sprouts is another one of my "projects". Timing to start/plant as well as pests (cabbage loopers/moths, cabbageworms/butterflies, diamondback moths, as well as harlequin bugs). Trying Falstaff red/purple Brussels sprouts this year in hopes of alleviating some of the pest pressure.

Growing corn in a small garden. I'm getting good harvests but some spotty pollination is still an issue. But I don't think I'll overcome this unless I'm willing to dedicate a sizable space to corn and I always have so many different things I want to grow....

[sheeshshe]

radishes and beets! but this year I will prevail!!!! I got some dirt hauled in last year and my son got some radishes to grow in his little garden that I made for him with that dirt. this year, I'm tossing all the "impossible to grow" crops in it! there are a few others, but those are the ones that really bug me that I can't grow!