As nice as the raised bed looks, the opposite is true for my backyard version. OK, many of the toms, especially the ones I planted first, look semi-decent. Only about 24-30" tall at best, but lots of blooms and some baby green toms. A good dose of fert will probably boost them.
And the beans do not look bad. Haven't seen any babies yet but they are about due to start forming. And the cukes are doing fine, except for a whitefly infestation I need to deal with.
That's it. The peppers, carrots, peas, and potatoes are sick. One bell and one banana pepper plant look to be doing as well as can be expected but the others - puny, yellowish looking, no blooms. About 10 percent of my potatoes rotted in the ground and never made it, another 2-3 percent might as well have perished. The last row of tomatoes was probably a waste of time - 15 percent of them died. The carrots would not entice even Bugs Bunny and the peas - another waste of time and effort.
I can see why - the rain, and I mean a couple of beat-down rains we had in June. Dirt was splashed over 3" high on my stakes. When I tried to break up the ground around the potatoes and peppers it was like using a jackhammer on a sidewalk: big pieces of dirt, six inches square and 2.5" deep were normal. At least I could use a hoe and easily break it up.
Perhaps I'll have history repeat itself. Three decades ago, I was faced with a similar situation. Less than ideal ground, super wet spring, poor looking plants. Broke the ground up real good and deep, added fertilizer, got some dry weather. The plants turned out to be among the best of all we grew that year.
Mike
And the beans do not look bad. Haven't seen any babies yet but they are about due to start forming. And the cukes are doing fine, except for a whitefly infestation I need to deal with.
That's it. The peppers, carrots, peas, and potatoes are sick. One bell and one banana pepper plant look to be doing as well as can be expected but the others - puny, yellowish looking, no blooms. About 10 percent of my potatoes rotted in the ground and never made it, another 2-3 percent might as well have perished. The last row of tomatoes was probably a waste of time - 15 percent of them died. The carrots would not entice even Bugs Bunny and the peas - another waste of time and effort.
I can see why - the rain, and I mean a couple of beat-down rains we had in June. Dirt was splashed over 3" high on my stakes. When I tried to break up the ground around the potatoes and peppers it was like using a jackhammer on a sidewalk: big pieces of dirt, six inches square and 2.5" deep were normal. At least I could use a hoe and easily break it up.
Perhaps I'll have history repeat itself. Three decades ago, I was faced with a similar situation. Less than ideal ground, super wet spring, poor looking plants. Broke the ground up real good and deep, added fertilizer, got some dry weather. The plants turned out to be among the best of all we grew that year.
Mike