24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening


From my experience a well planned out and properly spaced garden will easily outperform a "jungle garden", not to mention being easier to maintain and navigate. So yes, you have to suck it up, be ruthless and thin out those overcrowded rows to ensure a decent yield. Not sure why most beginning gardeners insist on trying to "save" every germinated seed (and thus leading to a "jungle garden") , but I assure you, vegetables do not have feelings. (After thinking about it, I guess they believe that more plants will equal more harvest, even if they are an inch apart, maybe they are not thinking about the "mature" size of the plant at planting time?) Also, regarding the vertically growing melons, hopefully you have planned out a way to support the fruit once it begins to size up? The Victorians that grew melons under glass (in greenhouses) used burlap nets tied to the structure of the house to support fruit weight. I would suggest something similar if you want any hope of harvesting a melon.

To prevent another outbreak what I have done is to take some tape (duct tape works good but any wide tape should do) wrap around the palm of my hand so the sticky side is out.
Then lift each leave to look for eggs on the backside. Press the tape on the eggs to remove them. This works for any critters you see while you are there. It works like fly paper.
Time consuming yet very effective, tho it has to be done for several days.
HTH

Yes I have been looking for eggs, I scouted thoroughly today (and looking for SVB - I have been spraying the stems with BT in hopes it will get them as they borrow in (which may be a waste of time IDK... I am ready to inject those vines if I see signs of them burrowing... alas it is about to rain AGAIN!) I did not find many eggs. Thanks for the tape idea, I tried to squish and they just fell off my fingers. I will definitely keep an eye out. I squished a whole bunch of flea beetles on the potatoes today, they were sluggish in the heat.


I think you nailed it - damping off. We all tend to either underwater or overwater it is part of the learning curve.
Consider this as a test run as Penny says you will have another chance in a matter of months. Most of us would love another chance that soon.
I use hydrogen peroxide + water in a spray bottle to moisten the soil until seeds germinate then I water from the bottom (where the roots are). This keeps the surface near the stem dry and avoids the damping off


The ferns the tops as you call them is what makes the food the feeds and grows the crown (root). Your patch is only two years old. I would leave the ferns grow this late in the year. When the ferns die this fall I would cut them down then. Next year they will pay you back with many times more spears next spring.

Agree the ferns are left until the late fall when they brown and begin to die back. That's when you cut them down to ground level and feed and mulch the bed for the following year. And be sure to keep them well watered throughout the summer so the crowns remain healthy.
Dave


Thanks for all the support and tips! This plot is part of a community garden plot, and my first year at this one. Will clearly plan better for next year. Talked to some of the more seasoned gardeners in that area and got similar tips - to add organic matter and to plant higher.
To remedy the current situation, dug up the plants, put in leaf compost and replanted on top of that. Hoping that the roots will have an opportunity to shed some water and recover.
Seemed like the basil and some of the peppers and cabbages liked the idea, the tomatoes are still thinking about it.

Those tomatoes don't look too happy. If that is clay when it dries it will be a brick. But I sure did a lot of work and definite dedication. Compost and organic matter and peat mixed into the clay makes it a much better growing medium. And mulch on the top even though the bugs and slugs love it.

How do you plan to support them? Be sure to take that into consideration. And you will also need to allow for easy access to them for pest patrol and harvest. So 2 sq. foot spacing is considered ideal for most all pepper plants. If you have room 2.5-3' is even better. If you don't have room then it is possible to do them in 1 sq. foot each but they will need much more careful monitoring and feeding.
Dave


Agree with bcomplex that what you are seeing is severe exposure to herbicides. In this case, more than drift. The leaves in the first few pics are classic photos of that issue. The subsequent pics are both damage resulting from that expose and the plant's efforts to recover (the split stem with the adventitious roots growing out of it.
So source needs to be ID'd if possible to prevent further exposure. If you used any herbicides then you will know the type/brand. If not check with neighbors and ask for advance notice so you can cover your plants. Any yard care companies working the neighborhood? Lastly, if all of those source don't pan out the source can be any mulches or other additives in your bed (community compost is an increasingly common source).
The plants - remove any and all affected foliage that is showing yellow/brown - leaves and stems both - leaving only the good green stuff. They will look bare and naked. Then give the plants a well diluted mild feeding of a well balanced fertilizer and cross your fingers. In most cases, depending on the chemical used, indeterminate varieties will recover enough to produce some fruit. Imidacloprid or clopyralid has a fairly good chance of recovery, anything with 2-4D not much.
Dave

A little off topic, however..... Getting old and tired and now have back issues, have discovered I now like to pick beans. I plant them in double rows about 8" apart, then about 2' between the double rows. When they're really loaded for the first picking, I pull out the entire plant and toss them in the cart and haul the entire crop to the front porch, under a tree, etc. Sit in a chair, and enjoy pickiing in the shade. The vines are then returned to the garden, mowed and rototilled in and that's it.
OK, that's heresy to a lot of you, but a lot of folks around me have decided that's the way to go. Bean seed is cheap, plant an extra row or two and life is good. Obviously if you're "space impaired" in the garden, you couldn't do this.
Been gardening for almost 60 years and gotta be creative to keep doing it.
Ev

Bent cukes could mean irregular soil moisture, like super moist to super dry, or poor pollination. They like heat so that shouldn't be a huge issue. I would agree with heavy feeding, I feed mine with a 4-7-7 mix of blood meal, bonemeal and whatever else every 2 weeks. That seems to work well for me. I try to keep the soil moist, don't ever really let it completely dry out, and i pick the cukes pretty small. Seems if I let them get bigger than my hand there is a bitterness I don't care for. Could be the variety though....






I am thinking you have more than one problem. As mentioned you need to see + ID the culprit before you can fix the problem.
Suggest going out after dark with a flashlight to look for slugs on the ground, on the plant, and on anything nearby.
You can use scissors to cut em in half. If it turns out you have lots put some ammonia + water in a spray bottle to 'melt em' when you spray em.
Still have more? pick up some Sluggo or other slug bait to help protect seedlings.
HTH
Earwigs do that to my pepper plants, and they completely ruined my lettuce crop this year. Took me a while to realize it was them until I went out early morning, and found them all hiding in the plants. If you are not seeing any pests during the day - I bet it's earwigs. Possibly slugs.
The bug picture looks like an aphid. They would not do that to your plants.