Anyone else have a black thumb?!

[raro]

I am beginning to think that gardening is the ultimate in optimism. I've been gardening in my suburban yard for upwards of 20 years and have come to the conclusion that it's not gardening, it's me. Every year, I have new ideas, new projects, new plants to grow, and every year I have images of canning and pickling and processing my produce. And every year I get a handful of measley veggies and more fodder for the compost bin.
My mother lives a mile away and produces scads of things. We both planted strawberries a few years ago. I get a few tiny red blobs half eaten by ants...she has buckets of ginormous berries every day for weeks. I grew exactly three pea pods. She was canning peas for days. I add chicken poop mixed with rotting straw to my expensive, custom-bought garden soil in the fall. She just plunks her seeds in and watches them sprout.
I watch to be sure my plants have plenty of sun. I sprouted a bunch of squash, beans, and cucumbers in little pots until they were 4=6 inches tall. Then I planted them in the garden in full sun. That was WEEKS ago, and they are still 6 inches tall. They look healthy but simply refuse to grow. I don't see evidence of bugs.
My mom grows so many veggies she doesn't have time or need for them all. And I can't seem to grow anything but a half dozen tomatoes, if I'm lucky. I had the same problem at my old house. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
Anyone else have a friend/relative with such lousy luck? I can tell that so many of you have tons of produce, but the only thing I can manage to grow are weeds...gah.

 

[mrscoyote]

I am right there with ya, I have no idea why things won't grow for me.

 

[moolie]

I can't grow corn, season here is too short. For some reason I can't get decent radishes out of my garden so I just didn't bother this year. Last year my beets had issues as well (never before) so I didn't bother with them this year either. But most things do fairly well if I choose varieties suited to my climate and short growing season.

Have you got your Mom to come over and give her thoughts on what may be happening with your garden? I bet with her years of experience she may be able to give you some little tips that will help

 

[raro]

Yeah, my mom's official diagnosis is "Wow. I have no idea."
As to beets...for years, I have only been able to grow purple carrots. The greens are great (too bad I hate beet greens, sigh) but my roots NEVER swell up. I can't seem to find any troubleshooting help for it...it seems I'm the only person with the problem. Long, thin, spindly purple roots.

 

[~gd]

I can't grow corn, season here is too short. For some reason I can't get decent radishes out of my garden so I just didn't bother this year. Last year my beets had issues as well (never before) so I didn't bother with them this year either. But most things do fairly well if I choose varieties suited to my climate and short growing season.

Have you got your Mom to come over and give her thoughts on what may be happening with your garden? I bet with her years of experience she may be able to give you some little tips that will help

YOU mihjy want to try just a tiny bit of borax in your soil I had problems that aound like yours [failure to form edible roots] The master gardener said she thought it was lack of a micro nutrient. Since I had a very nice lab I could use and I am a chemist I ran tests but no boron was found. I had been growing only in one spot close to the house [varmits] Since borax can be toxic [common ant bait] i used only one teaspoon on 100 sq. ft. and my radishes and beets were back and better than ever. I used 20 mule team borax laundry booster.~gd

 

[moolie]

I can't grow corn, season here is too short. For some reason I can't get decent radishes out of my garden so I just didn't bother this year. Last year my beets had issues as well (never before) so I didn't bother with them this year either. But most things do fairly well if I choose varieties suited to my climate and short growing season.

Have you got your Mom to come over and give her thoughts on what may be happening with your garden? I bet with her years of experience she may be able to give you some little tips that will help

YOU mihjy want to try just a tiny bit of borax in your soil I had problems that aound like yours [failure to form edible roots] The master gardener said she thought it was lack of a micro nutrient. Since I had a very nice lab I could use and I am a chemist I ran tests but no boron was found. I had been growing only in one spot close to the house [varmits] Since borax can be toxic [common ant bait] i used only one teaspoon on 100 sq. ft. and my radishes and beets were back and better than ever. I used 20 mule team borax laundry booster.~gd

See, but I do get VERY edible roots--my carrots in the same areas of my garden are amazing (strong, sweet, large) and for the past several years I've had bumper crops, with another coming on again this year.

I'll describe more about what I was seeing with the radishes and beets:

The radishes were normal sized and lovely on the outside, but had "caves" or "tunnels" through the white middles--not the type from pests, I know what those black carrot maggot tunnels look like, but just empty spaces in the white.

And the beets got spotty tops (I love beet greens) and simply died last year at about half size--then the leaves quickly turned brown and died back. We did try eating a few beets when they were still small when the spots first showed up, but they tasted bitter.

I do have borax for making up home made laundry soap, perhaps I'll try some next spring and see if it makes a difference.

 

[Britesea]

I use a mixture of borax and Epsom Salts

 

[~gd]

I use a mixture of borax and Epsom Salts

good one! it fixes both magnesium or sulfur deficiency

 

[the_whingnut]

Check to see if any of the local colleges have a soil testing program. If they do use it may cost $5-15 per sample but it will nail down what you don't have or what you may have too much of. Our soil here was clay/rock and dead, I just started testing adding soil amendments like, compost, mulch, borax, Epsom salt, lime, and some other trace minerals I lacked. But without the test I would have had added the wrong stuff or worse added too little of one part the plants need.

 

[~gd]

Check to see if any of the local colleges have a soil testing program. If they do use it may cost $5-15 per sample but it will nail down what you don't have or what you may have too much of. Our soil here was clay/rock and dead, I just started testing adding soil amendments like, compost, mulch, borax, Epsom salt, lime, and some other trace minerals I lacked. But without the test I would have had added the wrong stuff or worse added too little of one part the plants need.

ALL USA Counties have Coop-Extension offices which have links with Land Grant colleges. Most will do basic soil testing for free and if you can tell them what you want to grow they will even recommend soil admendments. Usually in sub-and urban areas they train Maste Gardeners which will come to your garden to advise you. most are Green Organic types...~gd