Does anyone else suck at growing veg?

reply to post by Henygirl


I don't know any personally...... but I'd try the ole Google route.

I'll see if I can find some better detailed 'fixes' though.

We have two cats that "patrol" the garden for pests - four legged
or two winged. They do a great job but no sure about insects.

I should speak with them about that.
My parents. Not the cats.

Proper soil preparation in the fall and well planned planting schedules are the biggest hurdles. After the garden is established it just comes down to maintaining - water, pests, weeding etc.

Proper soil preparation. It takes work but is definitely worth it.

I wasn't being lazy.

I was wondering if folks had experience with the recipes. Some of the ones with bloodmeal and bonemeal are interesting but I dont won't to invest if it isn't gonna work.

For soil we used the square foot gardening formula and mixed our own...it seemed to work out. I plan to rotate my stuff around next year.

The experimenting is fun even when stuff doesn't grow.

Gardening is an art, hence the term "green thumb". But, first and foremost, it's a science. The degree earned in college is called Horticulture. For agricultural endeavors, the degree is Agronomy, or Soil Science. I can assure you, in college, we didn't study The Farmers Almanac. :-)

I have a degree in Horticulture, and have made a living at it for over 20 years. I initially started out, looking over my grandmother's shoulder in her veggie garden...eons ago. I would be happy to dispell many of your "old wives tales" I see floating around here...or to answer any questions you may have regarding growing things...from turfgrass, all the way up to trees. Ask away.

FYI, I live in zone 4/5, in the midwestern USA.

reply to post by theRiverGoddess


I had a very abundant garden this year. My tomato plants were covered with fruit and very healthy. Then a week ago some brown spots appeared
on the leaves and in three days all my plants were dead and rotting.
Very frustrating! Some kind of blight I suppose, but it kills that fast?

This winter I am going to work on a hydroponic garden in the basement
hope to have more luck there.

I suck at growing anything! LOL I can't even remember to water a house plant.

reply to post by Violet Sky
Thats what sundays are for!
I always remember now to water them on sunday,
because I forget about them all week long with work and stuff!

Ive done gardening time to time, and learned msot of it from grandma! ever hear the saying grandma knwos best? tis true. Ive found, the trick is..to always, every year, getting yuor soil ready, always mix in new top soil, bags sold at local nursery , hardware store. New soil has better and richer nutirnts in it than the soil that been aorund for a year. Water often, not to drown them. twicwe a day if you can, beofre sunrise and before sunset. Always amke sure, yuo plant the seeds at precisly the distance back of seed bag says too..the reason? so theirs NO competition between the seeds. Those are the 2 most sucessful strategys, if i can call them that, that have guaranteed result.

And just aas important..stay away form monstantos related fertilizers an miracle grow!!! Use organinc bone meal at minimum.

Originally posted by theRiverGoddess
I have had AMAZING gardens in years past.......I have 37 YEARS
I feel that I wasted all my time on this years garden.

Maybe you DON'T suck at gardening at all, and we are being thwarted in our gardening attempts by 'something' unnatural in the sky.....if chem trails ARE causing morgellens disease, then surely it could be effecting the soil and of course our gardens.

I have also posted my situation this year, I have a friend that grows walmart seed and they have had huge bumper crops where as I am still waiting on my few little tomatoes to turn. Nothing has gone right this year in the garden. Have my seed sources been infiltrated? Many of the seeds I bought from last year just didnt make this year, it is reallly scary to think in terms of the gmos taking over ALL productivity.

We will talk more at another point, just had to add my support to this thread.

reply to post by theRiverGoddess


That could explain the dandelions.
I didn't plant a garden this year, but last year I couldn't get anything to grow after years of success.

Re: experience with anti-pest recipes.
Oh dear, this is 1 area that really messes up my efforts! I dont use chemical pesticides either.
In the UK its usually slugs that are the main problem. Beer traps work ok, but the best solution I've seen was 2yrs when we had a couple of hens: they eat them.
Aphids are probably the next worst. Spraying them with organic soap & water works brilliantly.

HOW TO GROW An Aztec Floating Garden

Try using this ancient Aztec method.

We've managed to get massive gains in our plants in just one week.

Low maintenance, yields 7 times more crops.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/56d6fc3ee11f.gif[/atsimg]

A fish pond is not necessary. You can dig into the ground and cover the bottom with sheet plastic to achieve the same effect.

[edit on 30-8-2009 by northexpedition]

Wow what a lot of great replies, thanks ladies and gents.

I'll pop babck in later tonight to spend more time with the info you've given me. Good to hear i'm not the only one who has had difficulty.

Thanks again.

CX.

So the bone meal does what?

I felt kindof bad when several folks around me had huge huge growth and I was having yield but not massive compared to them. Once I started asking questions.....they all use the chemicals.

I just would rather learn to get more yield with more natural means. I did pair some plants together to get more yield.

I also bought blood meal......what exactly is this for too?

reply to post by Henygirl


Part of my problem is being organic.

I can see why chemicals were invented in the first place. Makes life easier, and more productive.

I was horrified the first year when squash bugs took out zucchini, squash and pumpkins in about 2 days.

I still despise them.

But it gave me a whole new appreciate on how the people of Jamestown ever made it.

I grew broccoli for the first time this year. I don't think I will do that again anytime soon. Dismal failure.

[edit on 30-8-2009 by nixie_nox]

Broccoli and Cauliflower are two of failures this year. Although I am still on the fence whether to try it again or not. My family loves both of them.

One mistake is I planted them to early.

I had cabbage worms or something....other than hand picking them off I don't know another way to deal with them.

ask advice from someone who does it for a living maybe? and not just from the internet.

reply to post by CX


I used to be awful at growing anything, then I became more in tune with nature and meditated on making a connection with the earth, now I can grow almost anything and keep it alive. When I am not scattered.This year I had a hard time with replanted mint from my friend and I used to grow mint like crazy up north, But I think because I am so scattered and yes, have forgotten to water it a lot, i lost it. Try not to get too caught up in the daily stuff that tends to leave you forgetting. Just take time to sit and get your bearings and ground yourself and center yourself and then tend to the garden. As for stuff that you grew that you do not use, jsut because it was easy to grow, I say look up online some ways to use it. There are things I never thought of eating before that I use a lot now because of availability. The thing about veggies is that they are so versatile.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
Can I be president?

All I seem to manage is carrots. Even this, this year I harvested them to freeze them the next day. Then I got the flu so they went bad.

Our soil is horrible. We really need to just buy it. And I am having trouble figuring out who likes how much sunlight.

For better soil try composting.

Follow the Almanac like one person said.

Do not water with city water with chemicals in it, make some rain barrels
and save your roof run off.

If you have a lot of earth worms your plants will do better, so work on
getting the soil to a state that helps earth worms.

Add some animal manure to your compost to help get more worms.

Try the seedball method.

Seed Ball method

Seed balls being used by environmentalists

They use them, cause it works...

Another thing to try is watering early in the day so the sun will burn off
any excess.

If you water in the evenings you will promote fungus and mold,
so do not do that.

There is a lot more to growing plants well, but you can pickup a
good book on gardening online or at your local bookstore.

Some good info on this site as well.

Backyard gardener

Good Luck to you all !