Garden issues this year.

[mindierose]

This year has been a very different year for me gardening. I planted my garden at the same time, the same week I do every year. I watered every other day during the dry, hot time this year, and every day when it was really bad. I am not sure why things would be different being that it has not been too dry in the garden like it was the rest of the yard, lol. I have sandy soil here, but I have had almost all sand anywhere I have lived and had a garden, so that isn't a factor for me.
1. Corn bearing very little. 1 ear per stalk. Corn plants are at least 8 foot tall, not stunted or dwarfed at all.
2. Pole beans...NO blossoms or beans yet. They are past the 70 days till harvest. Plants are huge and gorgeous. I wish I would have built trellises higher because they are still growing.
3. Tomatoes are HUGE plants, tomatoes taking forever to ripen though. I have gotten a very small amount ripe in relation to how many plants and green tomatoes on them right now.
4. Squash and melons: Very slow to germinate. Cukes and melon plants are very very stunted. The plants that came up volunteer in my old pig pen are doing great, but that is ALL manure. Summer squash plants are very small. Winter squash plants have finally taken off.
5. All peppers are doing wonderfully. In fact, they are doing better than I have ever done with peppers. Herbs are good, too.
6. Cabbages are small, but seem ok other than a few stolen by chickens.
7. Cauliflower plants are HUGE, no cauliflower on them though. Just huge foliage.
8. Lettuces/greens were all stolen by a couple of stray chickens getting out constantly. I'm just going to go ahead and blame that completely on the dumb chickens, lol.
9. Bush beans did not grow as high and thick as usual.
10. Root veggies: Carrots still tiny, radishes....I must have missed the perfect time for them? Beets didn't come up well, turnips are still tiny.
11. Potatoes are not ready yet, but I didn't expect them to be. They went in a little later.
Anyone else having any of these issues this year? I fertilized with cow and horse manure, and was much more diligent on weeding than I have ever been. Maybe I need to leave the weeds in next year, lol!

[farmeratheart]

Sounds like you may have a deficiency of Potassium and Phosphorus, try adding some wood ashes and maybe a little Epsom salts for the Magnesium, Sandy soil also tends to be acidic, have you checked the PH level?

[cdmoi]

When I first learned how to grow food, I had the opportunity to work with an excellent organic farmer. She grew things when no one else could, and hers would top all. One of the tidbits I picked up from her that still holds true to this day is this: She told me she was struggling to grow her garlic one year, and was talking to another farmer about it, and he simply said, "Bad year for garlic." She got the hint--EVERY year is a good year for something, and a bad year for something. Last fall, my garlic sprouted and grew 4 inches before it FINALLY got cold enough and the light grew too short to keep it growing I thought I'd lose the whole harvest. I contacted my mentor: It'll be fine, she said. Sure enough, the heads are the BIGGEST I've ever grown. And I checked in with her and she said the same. So, this is a good year for garlic, and a good year for peppers, and a bad year for onions (you didn't mention that one, did you?), and yes, our beans are doing the same thing. And our tomatoes were slow to ripen, and now are speeding up exponentially.... still, not a great tomato year. Oh, and it's a GREAT year for blueberries in the NE, but a really bad apple year....none of our trees have much of anything on them, and a friend of mine's never even bloomed! I think plants go in cycles and are following some internal messages they get from the environment.

It's also possible your soil needs amending, but even if you do that, I still think you'll see this, and next, and the next year after that with these kinds of "patterns"... :-)
moi
p.s. One other thing I learned from her: Find a stopping place, because the work n-e-v-e-r ends!

[Canningmama]

I've had a strange year too. I think the bugs were worse than ever, and like cdmoi said, I think it's just a "bad" year for somethings. In fact, I've about decided I'm going to take a break from squash, zucchini, and cucumbers for a couple years. It's like the bugs have officially found my garden spot (after 8 years) and are there to stay. So, I'm going to try to fool them and just switch up what I plant. None of my regular crops have done well, but many of the others that I haven't grown much haven given me a surprisingly high yield. I do try to rotate plant every year and I think it really helps when you throw in new stuff. Do you have too much nitrogen in the soil? I've heard nitrogen focuses on the plant and not the fruit.

[Canningmama]

I've had a strange year too. I think the bugs were worse than ever, and like cdmoi said, I think it's just a "bad" year for somethings. In fact, I've about decided I'm going to take a break from squash, zucchini, and cucumbers for a couple years. It's like the bugs have officially found my garden spot (after 8 years) and are there to stay. So, I'm going to try to fool them and just switch up what I plant. None of my regular crops have done well, but many of the others that I haven't grown much haven given me a surprisingly high yield. I do try to rotate plant every year and I think it really helps when you throw in new stuff. Do you have too much nitrogen in the soil? I've heard nitrogen focuses on the plant and not the fruit.

[mindierose]

I forgot onions! Yes, onions doing terribly too. It's like the sets never grew after they went in! So odd. I amusually begging people to take some zucs and.cukes because I am drowning in them.

[cdmoi]

I agree with occasionally not growing a crop. This is also something my mentor taught me. She quit growing all the squashes impacted by the vine borer as they were getting so bad. Next year, we're gonna drop the spaghetti squash and focus on the varieties that do better near us.

I think it would be interesting if someone can remember to bring this up next year so we can see again what next year brings. Glad that mindierose struggled with onions, too--NOT that I'm glad you struggled, but that onions are always one of our stellar, cornerstone crops, and this year, and the fact that someone else is seeing what we are just makes me feel a bit sane.... I have NO idea why. We prepared the beds well, we watered....just don't get it. SOO much to learn!

On the nitrogen, I had had crops that were in soil with too much nitrogen, and they do, indeed, produce greens at the cost of the fruit, but both last year and this, my beans have gone bonkers on the plant, and the fruit came later, and if anything, my nitrogen is on the low side. Mindierose, I think you'll have plenty of crop, it'll just come quickly. Don't know what in the last couple of years this is, but if it's like last year, you'll "get yours"... :-)
moi

[Stacy]

I had a funny year with stuff too. Green beans just won't put beans on, except for the yard long beans. Those went great. Carrots grew and I can NEVER grow those. Onions grew and I can never grow those either. I even grew scallions. Those went awesome. Tomatoes were... umm.. Okay I guess? Potatoes were a no-go, but I have yet to see how the sweet potatoes will do. Usually we end up with footballs in those! Last year, we had a disgusting amount of watermelons, but this year I barely have one on all the vines so far! So we're just having a funny year too.

I think like what was said before, it's just a bad year for.... some stuff.

[eljay]

I'm having an odd year too. I planted enough green beans to bury us, and we're getting about half the yield. My beets are making tops but no bottoms and I've never had trouble growing beets. My cukes are tasty, but not prolific. Part of the trouble is that I usually pay attention to companion planting, but this year just got the planting bug and went out and started putting things in the ground.

The last two years I've had a beautiful garden. This year it's a jumbled overgrown weedy mess. I'm actually grateful for the monster weeds because it's going protect from the earliest frosts. If the weather continues this way it could be any day now. We're technically in zone 4, but are in actuality in our own little zone 3 pocket. We've managed to have frost on the ground while the thermometer reads 40* 15 feet off the ground.

[Dianne Ader]

My sisterinlaw's father told me his garden did what yours did. Lots of plant growth & bairly any fruit or veggies. His Onions did fablous! My garden is the best it ever did! BUT...it was so SLOW coming I was sure we wouldn't have a garden season at all!
My tomatoes are really late, but looking back to last year & before, everything else is right on.

Good & better luck next year!

Dianne