Yes, it's been a really sorry growing season. My tomatoes are kaput, potato vine leaves are getting black splotches and I'll be digging them now instead of later. Only the beans are doing well, but slowly. Today is the first day in two months that you could call a sunny, summer day...72F.
Sure don't have to worry about a low water table for a few years.

A cooler than normal season. Record-wet spring, but July is subnormal in precip. The drought line, just a couple of weeks ago totally west of the Miss, is edging back across.

Kinglerch-

North Central Ohio here - I have mostly the same garden results as you. My tomatoes are all dying and I am so bummed. Blight spreads faster than I can prune/spray; I think it's the extraordinary cold/wet weather we've been having. At this point all I can hope for is that the plants don't die completely until the greenies that are already on the plants are at least at blush stage. Sigh. Some days I think Mother Nature really hates me. But the difference between your garden and mine is that my beets are puny and the cucumbers we can't keep up with. Isn't that odd?!

And if anyone has a trick (voodoo dance or whatever!) to make melons put out at least ONE female blossom, I'd sure love to know about it!!

Edie

Not a year for melons, no. Tomatoes started ten days later, and zucchini 20 days later.

Kale and mustard did well (and still going) but everything else is 2 weeks (or more) past DTM (added to a late start for tomatoes and peppers) and bugs are horrible!

Is there something odd about 2013 in the midwest?

Add to that question the southeast too. So much rain and cooler than normal temps. The last couple of weeks were finally somewhat normal and the garden LOVED it. I am getting tomatoes, though the poor plants took a beating and look pitiful. My sweet peppers were non-existent. Got a few sweet bananas, jalapenos, and pepperoncini but no sweet bells. Squash...nada.

Thankful for what we got. Making plans for Fall planting and next Spring. Hang in their guys.

Yes, it has been a bad year so far. Much too wet and cool.

Spring lettuce - small and late
Broccoli - half didn't head up.
Potato - foliage died off early. Half the potatoes I already dug up are rotted.
Tomatoes - scrawny looking and producing a third of what I expect, but at least I'm getting some.
Peppers - finally have plenty of fruit, though very late and I don't know if many will ripen in time.
Eggplant - very late, only a few fruits have started.
Cucumbers - like Edie, I can't keep up with them this year.
Summer squash - Tromboncino (trellissed) is producing like mad. The bush summer squashes are producing very little.
Onions and garlic - very good this year.
Kale - looking good.
Bush beans - pretty good
Pole beans - just flowering (very late!).

@potterhead - my Kentucky Wonders are just starting to flower, Bush Blue Lakes have been for a while, are producing now but slowly - today I picked about a pint off of 38 plants total! Are you finding that your bush squash are getting a lot of male flowers now? My yellow (Early Prolific Straightneck) look very healthy, minor problems with squash bug eggs on the leaves but the SB are leaving the fruit alone. The Raven zucchini got slammed by SVB, and the SB are chewing up the skins of the fruit so they're unmarketable. But very few female flowers on any of them, and not all are getting pollinated either though the bees have been very busy.

In fact, I can say the same for the cukes - Bush Champion slicer is finally producing, and producing well, Picklebush doesn't seem to be cranking them out as much as I expected based on last year (I only pick about 6 a day off of a dozen or so plants). I just picked my first Little Leaf today, though there are 2-3 that will be ready later this week.

Tomatoes and peppers - let's not even go there. Though the plants are growing well now (stalled in all the rain the beginning of June, I didn't even put the peppers out until things dried up a bit at the end of June). Think I'll be making a lot of green tomato pickles at the end of Sept.

But I should have edamame soon! The 27 (out of 60) plants that survived the June rains have pods, just waiting for them to fill out.

Have lost about 15 of 30 tomato plants due to high moisture related diseases. Do have 8 as late young backups doing well.
Peppers slow, except jalopenoes (excuse please).
Eggplant best in years.
Cukes started off good but my last 3 attempts for late cukes aren't looking good.
Squash (yellow) was good, Zukes not so good.
Corn was good this season, just harvested plot #3 of 4. Critters having some too.
Okra, always does well, too well according to VgQn.
Y.Gold potato harvest was excellent due to good timing.
Cantaloupes - lost about 1/2 due to split/rot problems.
Watermelons coming in good now.
Sweet Potatoes look great on top, just hope they're well shapen by harvest.
Butter beans slow but couldn't find my fav seed this year.
Bush beans gone but not forgotten....

3 weeks till fall planting, will rip out the cantaloupes and early squash to prep beds.

edited to add--
Our 3 blueberry bushes were the stand outs this season. With all honesty they produced 10x their normal crop. Our freezer is full, preserves are done, and even the birds got tired of them and the honeybees loved the fermented leftovers. I doubt that happens again anytime soon.

This post was edited by vgkg on Thu, Aug 1, 13 at 17:16

How old are your blueberry bushes? I planted 6 from 2 gal pots last year, they had a bit of a rough start with drenching rain follwed by freezes right after planting, but survived. Patriot are the only 2 that produced anything this year, and it was literally 10 berries per plant. Bluecrop only 3-4. Legacy never even blossomed this year. I'm hoping it was just b/c they're still getting established. I don't know how long it takes for a blueberry to really start producing though. I've been picking our wild ones that were here (and the highbush ones were already tall) 6 years ago, and domestic ones my great-uncle planted decades ago (possibly 75 years ago when he built the house - I'd have to ask him).

All 3 BBs were planted 10 years ago. Have their names listed somewhere, a triple play deal from Miller Nursery back then. I'm sure that Bluecrop is one of them. Last year there was an early attack of inchworms that defoliated all 3 and poor production resulted, maybe they just made up for it this year?

@ajsmama - my bush summer squash are producing both kinds of flowers, just slowly. the plants are much smaller than usual and not much production.

Regarding blueberries, cooperative extension website says you should remove any flowers the first year and only let a few fruits develop the second year. That gives the plant a really good start and you will see big crops after that.

My fruit trees have done the best this year than I can remember, I assume due to all the extra water. But this time last year I was picking su2 sweet corn and this year, I have only small immature ears.

Will the corn pick up and mature late, or does it really need some heat (that we haven't seen much of) to fully mature?

I think that's the same 3-blueberry deal that I got about the same time. Which has served to convince me that growing bbs here isn't in the cards.

This blueberry deal was my 2nd attempt at growing them. Amending the soil each year with granulated sulfur finally got me on the road to picking berries. BB's need a low pH to thrive, about a pH of 5 is good. I didn't like the idea of adding the typical soil acidifier Aluminum Sulfate so opted for elemental sulfur which did the job.

It has been a superb year here. Tomatoes have lost more lower leaves than usual, but are producing ok. Everything else is great but melons...disease and herbicide damage in patch down the road. This patch last year was super superb with the huge watermelons and cantaloupes...one 22 lbs.

Fruit is about the best ever...apples, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, peaches, English walnuts.

So glad to hear others think the weather this year has sucked for gardens. The moisture and cloudy days have put disease in to overdrive on my tomato plants. And what the disease doesn't get, tomato fruitworms have. And what they aren't getting, something else is chewing holes in the skins. Maybe hornworms, but I examined the plants today and didn't see any. Bush beans were merely OK producers.

Same here. Spring had forecasts of below freezing temperatures over night every few days and peas, beets and onions were late getting in. June had nothing but rain with very few sunny days. July had 10 straight days of heat in the 90s followed by temps in the 50s a couple of nights. More rain is expected today and tomorrow. It feels like autumn for the past three days. So...

Peas - managed a decent crop but not long lasting

Beets - not sure what happened with those, because it's been awhile since I grew them. I have unhappy looking foliage and barely a bulb formed and they've been in the ground since May

Onions, are drying out and are undersize

Bush Beans - had a good crop and were pulled when they stopped producing

Tomatoes - late start and June with barely any sun, got them off to a bad start. They were barely growing. They had to be about 1/4 the size they usually are. I put some in the ground and tried some in pots this year. I am pulling those in pots this weekend and throwing them out. Fruit formed, foliage looked decent but the fruit is developing black on them before they are even ripe. I have two in the ground that have managed to grow healthy foliage and produce some fruit. Mortgage Lifter and Black Cherry. All green still but I think I will get some fruit. BC is turning red, but still has green shoulders.

Summer Squash - direct sown seed, germinated, had true leaves and then it just stopped growing for about a month. Must have been that June weather with all the gray skies and rain. Then July got really hot right after that and stayed that way for almost 2 weeks. I finally pulled two plants that were showing mildewed leaves. One actually produced some fruit. Can you believe first summer squash in August? Now I'm waiting for more and for them to get a little bigger.

Peppers did a little better than the tomatoes. Well, I had some in the ground and some in pots and those in pots are also getting pulled this weekend. No fruit. Those in the ground have fruit and are still producing flowers. Some fruit is turning red. Gypsy produced more than the others.

OH....I forgot, I had a very good crop of Asparagus in the spring.

So, after a summer like that, I'm hoping to make up for it with a fall garden. I'm getting ready to put Broccoli starts in and I just planted more peas. Lettuce, Kale, etc.

I have very lush pole beans still not flowering.

I have too many apples and figs, the apple trees are on the verge of breaking even after thinning.

Everything in the garden is late, but coming on strong now.

I am usually through with canning and freezing by now. The non gardening people that I give the extras to think that I'm neglecting them.

pnbrown, I have very lush pole beans also. They were flowering but no beans on the outside but they have beans under the canopy. That is strange!

My cow-peas are doing OK, I have 5 different varieties this year. I get a handful of each so I cooking them together. Pretty good mixed!

Deleted, duplicate.

This post was edited by wertach on Wed, Aug 7, 13 at 14:38

pnbrown - my Kentucky Wonder just started flowering in the past couple of days. Planted 5/30, 65 DTM so obviously they're going to be late - how long from flower to bean?

Bush Blue Lakes aren't producing a whole lot - just picked 1.5 lbs off 38 plants. Nothing like last year. Maybe it's the soil - I put them where I had potatoes last year and it was a bit low in N (I figured the beans would make their own) and also low pH. Potatoes liked it there, but got late blight so I didn't want to put any there this year, but also didn't want to lime too much, wanted to keep a lower pH (about 5.5) and try taters there again next year.

Edited to add:

Then again, my dad has pretty good soil (or maybe all the N got washed out in June's rain), he limes every year (without testing), so maybe his is too high, but his BBL looked good last week, today he told me he doesn't have ANY!

This post was edited by ajsmama on Wed, Aug 7, 13 at 21:28

I am having a late garden too. Our summers have really shifted. I am hoping for an explosion of produce so-to-speak because it has been so slow going. Our Junes have become extremely rainy and cold but our Septembers have warmed up. So keeping my fingers crossed. Good luck all :)!

We just finished a string of very cool nights. Now the weather has changed so maybe that will prompt the beans to do something, don't just stand there! I have several rows of cowpeas that have set well, which makes the pole bean thing all the more strange. Rattlesnake pole has flowered and set long since, these delayed ones are Romano and a southern greasy cultivar.

Sweet potato foliage is looking pretty good. If we get the usual warmish september the harvest should be decent. Hickory King corn looking good, even with less fertilizer than usual.

Feeling almost guilty. My squash and zuchinni did really well, until powdery mildew tried to slow them down, they are still cranking out. Cucumbers doing pretty well. Peppers just starting to jump. Tomatoes are going crazy. One of my support strings broke from the weight. Raised beds are my salvation.
The one bed that is not raised is struggling, but still putting out some.
Even the parsnips I planted back in march have suddenly germanated, what's up with that?

East central Illinois:
More lettuce than we could eat!
Blue Lake bush beans - second planting and we have to pick every other day. I planted the pole beans after I pulled the peas - we'll see how that goes.
Broccoli - huge leaves, small heads.
Beets don't want to germinate.
Carrots are doing well.
Potatoes had to be dug early, Small ones but good.
Herbs, I have given away tons of them.
Garlic, don't know what happened, they all disappeared during the winter!!
Cucumbers need to be searched daily.
Tomatoes are just getting going good.
Anaheim peppers are really moving along nicely.
Okra, somewhat disappointing, but we had a cool July.

The rain at my house has not been as prolific as measured at the weather station. Fortunately, my rain barrels provide enough for regular hand-watering.

Jim

Come on guys n gals. I want hear some success stories. We all have to get up and fight, no matter what.

My garden is also late but otherwise okay. I see some color coming on my tomatoes. I know , because I check them a minimum of 10 times a day. haha
And at nights I dream about Red Juicy tomatoes...lol

Gotta start a new thread for the success stories - this one has a frowny face in the title!

We got almost 5" of rain yesterday. It was coming down so hard or a while you couldn't even see out the window. Driveway washed out a little, road behind the barn washed out a lot. DH will have to spend the weekend(again, did this multiple times in June) trying to get things patched up so we can get in and out.

Cukes and squash got huge (I hadn't picked since Wed), some tomato stems (in the house garden) bent and cracked - hope they recover. Haven't walked out back to check the main garden, hope the edamame hasn't drowned since some was almost ready (not Wed). Oh well, at least I won't have to water for the rest of the month ;-)!

AJ, we missed almost all that rain over here on the islands, just one brief downpour (5 inches for you, wow!). Still I think the bean crop will come in fine if the MBB does not jump out of control. The maize should be made as well without needing significantly more rain.

The heirloom grain corn they used to say could make on dew, and IME that is nearly true.

Well, the edamame didn't drown, the frog pond (a glorified puddle where they like to spawn) that was only couple inches dep on Wed is now overflowing, and I picked over a quart (ziploc bag) of Bush Blue Lakes today. Kentucky Wonders are flowering like crazy, hope they're more productive than the BBL, the peas are coming up well. Did get some concentric cracking on some of my green tomatoes but I definitely have some Grandma Mary's paste types coloring up!

So how's that for good news ;-)?

What's MBB? And what variety of corn are you growing? Any good for fresh eating, or only livestock/cornmeal?

Well, I'll try!
Tomatoes-did fairly well even though my DH said " how much of this box of fertilizer should I mix into the tomato bed" I said "read the box" he heard "use the whole box" LOL. The plants are nice and big, over 6' and I was worried we wouldn't get many maters, but the ones we are getting are good 1 pounders!
Taters were good, still digging them from time to time.
Asparagus was the best ever! (almost got tired of it!)
Kale is still doing great!
tomatillos doing great as well as the volunteer!
Green beans are going wild! can't keep up with them! Have to do some freezing this week!
Chard was so huge and I had to pull it except for one plant that I'll let go to seed.
NOW the raised UP beds! I bought them from a neighbor who moved to Maui. They SAID they put in good soil, but almost everything I've planted in them , even with fertilizer, has been a failure! Squash, peppers, cukes . The small eggplant did fine as did some herbs.
I've prepped 2 beds for fall/winter stuff. That's pretty much all I need during the winter.
Happy gardening! Nancy

Mother Nature has been moody this year! Got flooded In June lost cold growing plants, July was hot muggy, and so far August has been cool side. Beans are doing okay, tomatoes look nice still waiting for ripe one, hot peppers been picking, bells are coming, pumpkin vines (trimmed back) starting fruit. Strange thing is planted parsley last week in a pot (never been able to get germinate before) outside looks like 100%. Roses, garlic, butterfly bush are all sad little plants this year. zone 5 cny

MBB: mexican bean beetle.

I grow Hickory King, an heirloom dent from the mid-atlantic region. It does very well in this maritime climate. It is considered one of the best for hominy, and also makes a good cornmeal.

Oh what the hell I'll share. Massachusetts.

Planted one tomato plant for the hell of it and fell in love with gardening once I saw it grow.

I planted some watermelons who were doing just fine until something went wrong and they got brown dots all over them and stopped growing. Whatever, these things started in Africa. They weren't meant to be here with 90 degree, 70 degree humidity days in July

My pumpkins are doing awesome, excluding the ones attacked by SVB. I hate those god damn things so much.

Tried to plant Mexican sunflowers in late June, not working out after Hornets ripped them apart to make their nest. After they stung me, twice. They've just been, sitting there really.

I took some other tomato plants off my friends hands. They were rootbound and I got them to get some decent fruit. I feel accomplished.

For a first year gardening, I did decent I believe.

Potato crop was a total failure. Not sure why. They were really green and healthy and suddenly went yellow. I do know that some neighbors had heavy blight so maybe the potatoes succumbed to that. The tomatoes did fine with the blight and bounced back well after an application of potassium bicarbonate. Sprayed the potatoes too. My bell peppers were stunted but are growing like crazy now. Maybe it was too much heat for the potatoes. We had a record high heat at night as well as really hot days for our area. My garden was really behind this year due to the strange weather.

This is the thread I've been looking for--and almost started myself--to bemoan this past season. Reading along, I was astonished at how similar my experience was to so many of yours. But what I found by the end was that all I really wanted was reassurrance that I wasn't alone in my garden's failures and to add my prayer for Next Year.

So I know I'm late, but thanks, all.

Well, the HK did make, and the voles ate 90% percent of it. Beans did well, I have enough for winter. The parasitic wasp seems to have done its job.

Severe drought from late august until about ten days ago was very harsh on the fall kale crop. I don't know if it will recover, going from that right into hard frost the last couple nights.

Now that 2013 growing season is almost gone, I must say that overall it has been a poor season. My main crop (tomatoes) were well below par. Then I got the late blight or grey mold(whatever) in September and wiped out every thing But I did fine with eggplants, cucumbers and beans.

I wish you all a good 2014.