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Just as an aside though, taking a shot in the dark, how often/much are you watering? If you're just giving the garden an inch per week, or one heavy watering per week, then you're in great shape.

But yellowing leaves can come from too much water. Do you have city water or are you on a well? If you're on city water, keep in mind that it has been treated, and when I water my seedlings when I start plants, they really HATE tap water from the faucet. The chlorine in the water causes all kinds of problems in my young ones. I always have to leave my watering jug sit in the air for a day to let all the chlorine volatilize and evaporate away.

But if you aren't watering more than once per week, the above statement doesn't apply. The amount of chlorine in tap water won't have much effect on plants that are in the soil, whereas plants in a tray get a concentrated dose of treated water.

Here is a link that might be useful: A link to the gardenweb forums on a discussion about water.

Okay try this link please :)

Here is a link that might be useful: pics

and as far as watering- I first thought you needed to water more often so they may have been a little overwatered at first -not to much though, they have been in the ground only a few days. Plus it rained good last night. Some of the tomato leaves look bad and some I think are normal, just would like someone that has experience to take a look for me :)

It is perfectly normal for the large, first seed leaves to turn yellow on plants and fall off. They have served their function. As long as the newer leaves stay green and keep growing all is well. The other leaves on plants look okay. Tomatoes get all sorts of funky leaves in weather that is too cool at night. Later, when you have lots of leaves, you could trim off the funky ones.

You're doing fine, those pics look ok. How long has it been since you transplanted? Only a few days, if I recall correctly?

A lot of my transplants have sunburn, especially the tomatoes that I bought from a garden center. They sat under the plastic greenhouse there, which lessened the intensity of the sunlight. When I planted them outdoors, most all of the leaves had a discoloration on them.

The solution for sunburn like that is to move them outdoors in full sun for a few hours one day, then a little longer the next day, and a little longer the day after that until they acclimate to it. But that can only be done before you transplant. They'll grow out of it.

Usually I do not have that patience, to harden them off over 4 or 5 days, and I just transplant them because I have so much work to do. The yellowing on the leaves will go away, and the plants will grow out of it.

Give it a few days, plants don't like change, and they don't like to be transplanted. They look ok though, from your pics.

Yeah, they look fine, I was writing my reply when you posted. The thing with watering is that you can do it too much. Now that it has rained, you really want to dry the soil out. Letting the soil dry for 7 days before you water again encourages the plants to grow deep roots, and that will allow them to better withstand dry periods and hot summer days.

Water and fertilize weekly, weakly. One deep watering per week is much better than several frequent waterings every few days. It's hard to believe, but even when the top of the soil is dry, there is a lot of moisture 3 and 4 inches down, they'll be ok.

Awesome, thanks once again! So about the watering, is it the same with seeds that need to germinate? I assumed that since they are right there on top they will dry out if they are not watered every day or so until they germinate

Your cukes look just like mine - a little yellow. I'll bet if you have a week or so of good sunny weather they will snap back. Take a look on the left most column and see my cukes (all 40 of them) dont look like yours.

www.theprudentgardener.com

Right, with seeds that are planted deep, like corn and bean seed, any large seed usually doesn't need any more than one decent watering, and then they are far enough from the soil surface that if the top dries, it won't dry far enough down to hurt the seedling.

For shallow planted seeds, like carrots and lettuce, I keep the top moist every day, just to make sure they get up, but not sopping wet.

The seedlings do look normal, about what mine looked like a few days ago - thriving now.

However, I'm surprised no one has mentioned your use of chipped wood mulch - directly over the young plants. I use it on my paths - between naturally raised growing beds, since there has been many discussions re: the use of wood mulch leading to nitrogen starvation. Is there some exception in this case I don't know about?

wood mulch breaking down IN the soil would lead the microbes to tie up free N, however, she mulched on top of the soil, and she has no amendments to the soil added this year, so she's going to have to fertilize directly this growing season.

I have sawdust in my manure that I mulch with, and I've had the same thought, however, I usually add Pro Gro or Pro Booster to my garden every year, just in case.

I have also been adding a bit of sawdust to my compost bins every season for the past few years - and, in addition to tilling it in with wood ash and bone meal amendments, I also use the compost as mulch over my growing beds.

Additionally, after planting, I've had success applying dried blood around each plant, along with a bi-weekly application of fish emulsion solution during the growing season. Application amounts of all these ammendments follow recommendations from my annual soil test lab reports.

I'm wondering if the OP should consider scraping off the wood mulch from her beds at season's end.

I don't like wood mulch, especially if it's mostly sap wood or has any additives. It's also best practice not to mulch right away, but to wait until your plants are growing well and temperatures are high. The purpose is to cool the soil and hold moisture in, which is not what you want to do at the beginning of the season. You don't need to remove it now, but I suggest you at least keep it three or more inches from the stems.

I don't like wood mulch, especially if it's mostly sap wood or has any additives. It's also best practice not to mulch right away, but to wait until your plants are growing well and temperatures are high. The purpose is to cool the soil and hold moisture in, which is not what you want to do at the beginning of the season. You don't need to remove it now, but I suggest you at least keep it three or more inches from the stems.

thanks for the info I had no idea! I swear Ill never learn all of this :( I always just heard to mulch around the plants so I went to Home Depot and bought mulch lol!

Shawnalynn: Please don't get discouraged. You are learning. I've been learning for decades! In the school of hard knocks, sometimes. But every year, I get better and so do my gardens. If it was easy, like the MiracleGro commercials suggest, we'd all be living in Eden. Gardenweb has taught me more in a year than I learned in many years of trial and error. Good luck!