Beets...tried three different times...no success.

What type of carrots are you growing and what problems are you having? I will help you. It seems that I have figured out that crop.

Now parsnips and Rutabegas, that is my problem.

{{gwi:118224}}

If you think clay soil is the problem, try a round, oxheart, or half long type. Of course if you are in an area prone to carrot flies (Psila rosae) then your problems are manifold. Floating row covers will work. The long types like Imperators need the soil worked to about 12 inches which means using a shovel or spading fork.

Agreed. When I first started gardening the first carrot varieties I grew were Danver's Half Long and Red Cored Chantenay. Both of them did well in predominantly clay soil.

I've given up on potatoes. Tried growing them twice several years apart and both times were failures. And I've got no idea why.

Rodney

You can grow tons of carrots in a couple of big old flower pots full of potting mix. There is always a solution of some kind. :)

Dave

Geraniums. They're practically weeds here but they croak on me every time. I can't figure out why, I'm doing everything right but sure enough they turn light green and get limp leaves. I'm done. Wasted my last dime on them. Ironically, I caved and bought what I decided would be the last gardenia ever. It's alive, thriving and even blooms. I ignore it and toss it a handful of citrus food when I feed my Meyer lemon. Yet it's the first successful gardenia in my entire life. Acid soil and food-NO. I refused to waste the money on that again and yet this gardenia lives on. Amazing ! I cannot believe I finally have one !

The Bell Peppers and Eggplants I planted my first year all did terrible. I may not grow any next year, and if I do, they will be much downsized. It was a cool year, and I am not sure my garden gets enough sun for them. I really wanted to grow nice peppers but it doesn't seem like I will be able to grow bells.

Jay, I would love some help! (I have seen the photos of your carrot rows -- they are amazing.)

and Dave, I really like your "always a solution"

I've tried Danvers half longs -- but that year (1st) I never got them thinned, so they were scrawny.

since then it's been various Nantes types, pelleted and unpelleted seed
I have germination problems -- have tried to remedy with covering the seed with potting mix or burlap and watering every day. Thinking maybe I need to be buying seed every year instead of using up my old seed some years.

Then, when they do germinate, sometimes they disappear -- rolly polly bugs?

If I get a second crop to germinate, they've been so small as to be silly. I've got New England temperatures, and Mid Atlantic sunlight -- kind of the worst of both worlds in that respect.

One year I germinated meticulously, then thinned meticulously, then covered with netting to make sure no bunnies or deer got at them . . . only to find that they were small as ever.

Last year I did all the right stuff, and dug some in the fall that looked pretty good. But I've been storing them underground under hay bales, since it's winter I want them for, and the voles showed up and ate them all.

And this year I tried Tonde di Parigi, thinking it was an elongation problem. But I hid them among the greens, hoping the rolly pollys wouldn't find them. They did grow but they were tiny. Too much shade from greens?

Sigh.

Maybe I'm jinxing them with too much (misguided) care? Maybe I need to treat them like Deeby's gardenias?

Yep, when all else fails I highly recommend neglect !

Radishes. I know, they package these for little kids to grow, but they never work for me.

I used to say that I just couldn't grow radishes. Then I began planting them deeper, about an inch, maybe a bit more and I always get get radishes now. If you try it I'd love to know how it goes.

First start off with high quality fresh seed. Carrot seed doesn't last long, and needs to be replaced each year IMO. When are you planting carrots? In the spring? Fall?

I have attached a blog post that shows how we start carrots in the 90-100 degree heat of a Kansas summer. In the spring, we do the same process, just not as much watering.

I find the shorter varieties are better. I like Nelson, Mokum, Yaya, Napoli, Bolero, Romance to name a few.

They do need full sun and plenty of water. They also do not compete very well with weeds, must keep weeded from the start.

I do prep my ground a little different than I did in the link, now I have my own tractor and tiller. First I use a single shank ripper and rip the ground as deep as I can. Then I add compost to the soil. Next I till as deep as I possibly can. Finally, I make raised beds with my disc hiller and smooth out the top with a rake. Also, I have used a timer and set up misters/spinner sprinklers to keep the ground most.

Just a few of my thoughts.

Jay

Here is a link that might be useful: How we start carrots.

I second the 12 inches or more of loose soil...Romance, Nelson, Mokum , and more.

Tomatillo's... I know they grow like weeds and overtake the garden for some, but mine start growing well... form husks, then slowly the leaves start turning yellow and fall off. This has happened 2 years in a row, first in a raised bed, then in an 18 gallon container (with new growing medium). I used the same supply of seeds, so this year I will try new seeds. Any other suggestions?

Regards,
Tom

Like Peter, I gave up on growing bell pepper. Never had a decent pod. Most were small or rot . With the price of bell peppers at stores, why bother wit it. I grow mild once like Anaheim, poblano, cubanelle, ...which have better flavor.

Also, same goes with corn. By the time mine were edible, they were selling 5 of them for $1. and theirs were much better than mine too.

Seysonn

I long ago gave up on bell peppers, but Corno di Toro grow and fruit prolifically and taste exactly like bells. But I still can't grow cauliflower and brussel sprouts and long ago gave up trying.

Brussels sprouts. the first year instead of sprouts, I got little bouquets of leaves developing, which actually were quite tasty. Perhaps I gave them too much fertilizer? But I could be happy with the results I got. The second year, I actually got sprouts, however they were riddled with mildew or something black that resembled it, which made them useless. Now I stick to kale, which is simple and predictable....

--Rick in CT

Maybe I will give the Corno di Toro a try next year, tx for the suggestion.

I'm not even going to try corn. The whole wind pollinated thing, plus it's squirrel crack.

Hmmm, I don't think I've given up on anything I really like because I couldn't grow it, but I've sure come close a few times! Lettuce used to not even germinate for me (turned out it was but getting eaten almost immediately), carrots have been tricky and I may have to switch to planting them in a container (almost certainly a death knell for them given the way I tend to forget to water containers) because of RKN, and most recently I almost gave up on artichokes because they are difficult and very attractive to voles too. Of course this is the year I got an amazing harvest from my artichokes. I think it is the satisfaction of finally harvesting something you really like that was difficult for you to grow that is one of the big rewards of gardening.

As for the voles, two things: first, you'd be surprised how much one vole eats in a single day. They are like minature, underground woodchucks. If you can catch just one in a trap, suddenly there is no more destruction (and you would have sworn you had a whole plague of them before that). Second thing, my parents always store their carrots in a cheap styrofoam cooler with a bit of damp garden soil and keep it in the basement. No worries about the carrots getting eaten there.

Having said all that, there are things I've given up on that I don't love because they are too hard to grow or else I only want them once per season. Yellow squash springs to mind. Your garden is one of the places in life where you get to do what suits you, and isn't that grand? Cheers!

There was a discussion elsewhere on GW regarding voles and moles. There seemed to be 2 popular solutions to underground burrowing pests. One possibility is the regular application of a product such as 'hot pepper wax' to the ground surrounding your plantings, and another is to grow plants that are highly toxic with limited top growth, whose root systems should discourage underground burrowing and grazing. Daffodils, jack-in-the-pulpit, hellebore, and some of the more toxic crocus species come to mind. For limited planting areas, lining the bed underground with rat wire might do the trick. What do you think?
--Rr

Jay -- thank you so much for the great info. I won't give up this year -- I will rise and try again!! I have tried Nelson, Yaya, Mokum, Scarlet Nantes, Napoli -- those are the ones I liked the flavor of better than Danvers half long or Tonde di Parigi. I'll pick one and buy new seed.

I generally plant in spring -- try in April, under cover, and again in May and/or June (failing three times a year is even better than just once!)

I've been often planting in a place that was dug deeply the year before -- like the old leek bed. But that would also be a highly manured bed -- do they not like too much manure?

I will follow your tips and report. This is the year (2015) for me not to do anything dumb with my carrots.

sunnibel -- thanks for the tip on the voles. I will try a trap this year. They have plans to take over (ate lots of my potatoes and sweet potatoes last year too)

Rr I've tried repellant, but didn't help much. Also, it has coyote urine in it, which you can read about in an entertaining thread that has gotten way OT over on the soil forum (Winter Urine). I've also tried Juicy Fruit Gum (suggested on one of those vole discussions) I think I'll try to trap the little buggers!

Thanks, everyone, for the failure stories, too :)

Ever had to give up on something you really wanted to grow?

==>>> not really ... mostly because... by the time i give up ... i have a real hate on for the plant.. lol ...

the definition of gardener ... one of them.. is that you arent one.. until you have killed every plant... three times ...

and by that time.... i really hate that thing.. lol ...

ken

>some of the more toxic crocus speciesCrocus species are edible, maybe you were talking about Colchicum.

My first batch of Brussels sprouts looked GREAT. I commented on my success in the produce dept where I worked with spec ed students. They asked me how I dealt with the aphids. Huh? What aphids?
It turns out that I hadn't been wearing my glasses while gardening, and was so infested, they weren't salvageable!
I tried one more time (with glasses) and no success! LOL
Beets are on my list, but since retiring last year I have more time to play with things. Nancy

Okra. Just not enough yield per square foot and not long enough of a harvest season. Unlike nightshade crops, it really, really hates being transplanted into soil that is even slightly cooler than optimum. Even with plastic mulch, row covers and high tunnel protection, the soil isn't warm enough here to transplant them until late June, which means they begin yielding in about mid-August. 3-4 weeks later, the season is over. But those fresh pods are so tasty.

I have pushed the envelope on a few plants that shouldn't do well here in Z-7 but have had mostly success. Artichokes did ok but not great here as the heads were rather smallish for poor production. These were killed after 3 years by single digit temps, no matter the deep leaves of insulation.

I do have a Meyer lemon tree growing outside a-ok now in it's 2nd year here. It's planted on the south facing wall of the house enclosed in make shift mini-greenhouse heated at night by light bulbs. Last winter was challenge when temps hit 3F outside while the lemon tree bottomed out at 36F. Have gotten good lemons, about 15 this past season.

As for carrots, never had a problem there. Prefer Nanties variety and grow them in spring and fall for a double harvest. I like the fall ones the best as they are sweeter and aren't as "earthly" tasting as the spring ones. As someone else mentioned they do need special care for weeding and thinning.

"I'm not even going to try corn. The whole wind pollinated thing, plus it's squirrel crack."

Lol... I almost spit soda on my keyboard over that comment. Raccoons are a bigger problem here, they will attack sweet corn just before it reaches harvest stage... and deer wouldn't even let it get that high, if I didn't fence them out. More like deer crack, they are still chewing on some of the nubs (underdeveloped ears) that were left on the stalks.

As for the voles, two things: first, you'd be surprised how much one vole eats in a single day. They are like minature, underground woodchucks."

Best description of voles I've heard yet, and couldn't agree more. I've always thought of them as garden rats. They really swarm on my garden once tomatoes start ripening... I put dozens of traps under the plants when ripening starts, marked by survey flags. Caught over 50 this year alone, hard to imagine how much damage they might have caused had I not caught them early. Dried apricots make great bait, the scent attracts them before they reach what they came for... SNAP!

As an organic gardener, I will tend not to grow a vegetable if it is very prone to disease, or has serious insect problems that are not easily solved organically. Potatoes fall in that category; my soil is a little too high in pH, too heavy to make harvest easy, and they attract Colorado potato beetles to the garden (which then attack my eggplant). None of these problems individually is insurmountable; but my garden is large, and I can't expend that much time & effort on any single crop. Just 50 miles west of me in Wisconsin is 'Potato country'... they are cheap enough here year round that I'll never need to grow them personally.

Pretty much the same story for cabbages & their kin. Cabbage loopers are active all year, I'd need to be spraying BT every two weeks all summer long to kill their caterpillars... no thanks. The short transitions here from cool Spring to hot Summer don't help either. I've mulled over the idea of growing cole crops under floating row cover, and still might try that one of these years. I'd really like to have fresh, home-grown broccoli.

I miss growing some of the warm weather crops that I took for granted when I lived in San Diego... particularly chayote squash. I tried growing it here, but it is daylength sensitive & only begins flowering in September, as frost is approaching.

I'm with Dave on the carrots. A deep container or raised bed, like you mentioned, would help tremendously. I have some raised beds but they're not traditional--- meaning I walk in them. So, containers it is! I did buy a pack of some short variety this year that I might try in there though.

For me, it's Brussels Sprouts. They just never get tight sprouts. So, I've just given up. One of the few things I don't mind buying. Kind of dumb though -- I can grow any other type of Brassica( fall, winter or spring) with great success.

Kevin

Melons for my give up. Over the years, I've tried and tried again to grow them.... and failure every single time. Never a one flipping melon for my efforts.

Cukes and squash, pumpkins and gourds? No problem. Sometimes great success, sometimes not so much, but always had something for my efforts.

But melons elude me.

zeedman,

Do you use regular mouse traps baited with dried apricots?

I set out several mouse traps this fall and caught plenty of mice but only one vole. Perhaps the mice got to them before the voles did. I know that both types of rodents have been feasting on my vegetables.

Will the snap traps affect ground squirrels? I have a couple of 13-lined ground squirrels that I would like to keep around - they eat the grasshoppers and I've heard that they keep voles at bay to some extent.

S.O., I use traps that look like {{gwi:2117639}}. They are very durable in the garden, some of mine are over 10 years old. All I need to do - other than bait them - is to clean the mud out of the mechanism if it starts to bind up. The only part that ever breaks is the plastic release tab... and sometimes the traps get bent (or go missing) if a predator finds the mouse before I do. The alligator-style traps that I tried never caught anything.

The small traps that I use are not really strong enough to to hold a ground squirrel; if caught, they usually pull free (leaving a little fur behind). There are larger versions meant for rats (I have about a dozen of those) which will kill ground squirrels. The ground squirrels can be just as destructive as voles, if you grow anything for dry seed... a pair of ground squirrels "harvested" nearly all of my pea seed one year, before I caught them. The only reason that they might drive voles away is that they compete for the same habitat & food supply.

If you caught more field mice than voles, either that was a reflection of your rodent population, or the bait you used was more attractive to mice. In my home gardens, I caught a lot of field mice early in the season, but by late summer, all I was catching was voles.The vole population always seems to explode when the late tomatoes begin to ripen.

In my rural garden, I had a period this year where I was catching toads - about 5-6 of them. (!!!) Not something I wanted to catch, obviously... can't figure out what might have attracted them to the traps, since that never happened before.

Regarding surface varmints, I posted this elsewhere, but in brief,ÃÂ if you take a half gallon of water and stir in 1 raw scrambled egg, in about a week you will have a mixture that will repel almost any animal. Surprisingly, this mixture does not produce gas, so a lid can be kept on the container. Used sparingly, human senses won't be affected. You can either take small strips of paper towel with a few drops of this on it and put them on the ground, or hang 1 or 2 in the branches of the plant. The animals should be repelled, and the only problem is that you have to renew the mixture every 2 or 3 days or after it rains. A half gallon should last a medium sized garden at least a month. This can also be applied with a small paintbrush just spatttering it around the base of the plant, or onto the plant.

FTR's (aka F'ing tree rats or 'squirrels') would routinely raid the pots I had planted all over my porch, looking for who knows what. This no longer happens since I've been using this solution. Deer hate it too. I've also read that toxic plants such as daffodils planted around a bed will help keep burrowers out, since their roots must be pretty bad tasting.

Well, we have a few more months before we have to deal with these challenges again! I've had enough of winter already, and it hasn't even begun yet!

--Rick
ÃÂ

Thanks zeedman. I only tried PB and apple slices as baits so far. I will try the apricots. I lost a lot of beets to rodent damage - they took a bite out of every single beet.

Per some previous discussion of voles and traps with zeedman, I tried the apricot bait and it seemed to work quite well! (Glad you liked my description of voles, I came up with it after witnessing a single vole eat its way through 3 large raddichios in as many days... Bless the apricot bait.)

I may be giving up mexican sour gherkins. I will purchase one more pack of seed to try and then may give up.

I have used a muskrat trap in my fence for rabbits and ground squirrels. Very effective.

Here is a link that might be useful: Muksrat trap

Thanks for the reference, Tishtosh, I may try those traps... especially if they work on rabbits.

Oddly enough, the only trap which has caught rabbits for me is an unbaited Havahart trap, placed tightly against the garden fence & left open. Animals - testing the fence perimeter for a way in - walk right into it. That's all kinds of animals. There's no telling what you'll catch... while it caught rabbits & squirrels, it also caught opossums & raccoons. Let me tell you, an angry adult raccoon is a hard thing to let go safely.

I hope it works for you, zeedman. The one we used was a loaner, and we staked it with a piece of rebar but they are worth their price. I decided against live traps because I would not check it every day and it is more human to just kill them quick than to let them starve to death.

THanks for the ideas on trapping voles. My yard is a mass of tunnels now, so I think I'll need to do something next year to protect the garden.