My Vegetable Garden Sucks!!!

[mrbstephens]

The first year I put it in, I had an enormous amount of veggies. So much in fact, that I had to give away some of it because it was more than we could use. Every since, I've had a steady decline in the performance of the garden I add lots of homemade compost and use a natural fertilizer every few weeks.

It could be that you are over-fertilizing. Compost is a constant-feed fertilizer. Plants need a break from eating, too. Maybe you are burning out your crops?!? :/ Is the "natural" fertilizer Miracle-Gro? That's made in the lab by mixing chemicals and it doesn't last more than a few months, anyway--you DON'T need it if your using compost. Maybe your natural fertilizer is killing off beneficial soil microbes?
Maybe this will help (regarding soil biota.)
http://www.composterconnection.com/site/garden-soil.html#adds-microbes

I did not add compost this year, because I thought I had been adding too much which is why the soil tested a little on the basic side. I've been using liquid kelp fertilizer.

 

[ducks4you]

The ONLY thing I think that I would do is to take a soil sample to your local extension office and have it tested. Good luck--it DOES suck when your stuff doesn't grow!!

 

[mrbstephens]

The ONLY thing I think that I would do is to take a soil sample to your local extension office and have it tested. Good luck--it DOES suck when your stuff doesn't grow!!

I did that. They only thing they could test for there is the ph which turned out to be a little on the high side so I added sulpher. I don't think it helped. It's probably just that it's not getting enough sun. I'm noticing that at 10:30 am, most of the garden is still shaded. Not sure how many hours it actually gets. I'll pay attention this afternoon.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Have you pulled up any of the plants and examined the roots? I know of at least one nasty little bug that just LOVES organic matter (lots of compost in the soil) and also LOVES to eat veggie roots. If it turns out not to be the sun exposure, or lack of decent growing temperatures, I would check to see if you have any soil dwelling pests and/or soil diseases.

 

[Beekissed]

Its so dry here that even the weeds are wilting and dying! Everything just grew to a halt when we stopped getting rain and now things are starting to look like a fall garden.

The only things that are doing any good at all is broccoli, popcorn, sweet corn and pumpkins. Nothing else.

I'll try to get a pic of my failure of a garden for this thread...if I can bear to do so.

 

[meriruka]

Very sad garden this year. In spring everyone planted late because it rained every day & it was too muddy to plow.
Once everything was planted, BLAM! no rain at all and temps in the 90's ......it's like the Gobi deset here now. I've lost a third of the garden to weeds because the ground is like cement so you can't pull them and they are too tall now to get the tiller through. A lot of seeds never came up, a lot that did bolted immediately or grew too close to the surface. The insects this year are completely out of hand.
The only thing that did well were the onions, the potatoes and the herbs.

I have a big tub under the spigot that I use to catch the water from filling the chicken waterers and I carry buckets down to the garden trying to save the cukes, tomatoes and squash. Am too afraid of running the well dry to water the whole garden.

At least the grass is all dead & I get a break from mowing!

I did convert my "Been farmin' all my life" neighbor to Yukon Gold potatoes, he says he won't bother planting white potatoes anymore because these are so much better and I have another neighbor anxiously awaiting the lemon cukes.

I (stupidly) haven't given up and am planning the fall garden.

I need a LOT more compost to get the soil where I want it. I have a huge pile of chicken poo but it's mixed with pine shavings that take forever to break down, especially with no rain. So I said "heck with it" and started piling the shavings at the base of the trees to keep the stickers & poison ivy down (less string trimming!")

 

[chipmunk]

I was just thinking today that it's a darn good thing that we're not relying on our garden output to eat, or we'd be mighty skinny!

 

[Buster]

We are experimenting on a small scale with plasticulture, and it is definitely helping with the weed problems. I hate weeding. The garden still isn't good, but better than last year.

Next year we are going to try it on a much larger scale. I just learned at a workshop Thursday that it is possible to use it and still be certified organic, at least in my state.

I am much more comfortable working with animals than plants.

 

[Buster]

I was just thinking today that it's a darn good thing that we're not relying on our garden output to eat, or we'd be mighty skinny!

No kidding. My great granparents died of malnutrition in turn of the 20th century Indian Territory due largely to crop failures.

 

[Farmfresh]

I (stupidly) haven't given up and am planning the fall garden.

I need a LOT more compost to get the soil where I want it. I have a huge pile of chicken poo but it's mixed with pine shavings that take forever to break down, especially with no rain. So I said "heck with it" and started piling the shavings at the base of the trees to keep the stickers & poison ivy down (less string trimming!")

Not stupidly. My fall garden often exceeds my summer garden. Around here the conditions are often just so much better.