I don’t know about you, but I’m still waiting for summer to begin. Pretty much every day this summer, this has been the scene outside when I get up in the morning. The weather’s been so rotten even the seagulls are taking time off from flying.
Cloudy, with a chance of rain and HEAVY humidity. It’s SO depressing. Some days I get out of bed, and some days I’m just like… I think I’ll just stay here a little while longer and do nothing. Or, I’ll waste 9 hours on the internet looking at homes I’ll never buy. Or I’ll put a bunch of things in an online cart {and not buy them}, or I’ll just start looking up random things on the internet for no apparent reason.
I’d tell you some of the things I’ve been looking up lately but I honestly can’t even remember. I can’t seem to focus on anything.
I don’t even feel like rug hooking.
In my nearly 30 years of gardening, I have never had a bad growing season. Not once.
Until this one.
Case in point.
See this packet of beet seeds? I planted the seeds on May 31st.
This is what my beets look like 7 weeks later. I think they might be an inch tall.
Here’s a picture of one of my {150+} tomato plants I started from seed, all nice and healthy looking when I put it into the ground back at the end of May.
Here’s what my best looking tomato plant looks like today. Oh yeah, it looks like it’s going to be a bumper crop this year! 3 tomatoes. Unless of course a wild animal gets to them first. Which at this point is highly likely.
Because they’ve already found the pepper plants.
I planted cabbage {that I started from seed!} the first week in June. An absolutely beautiful seedling, wouldn’t you agree?
This is what my cabbage looks like now. Definitely a prize winning cabbage in the making, wouldn’t you agree? Prize winning in the category of saddest vegetable on the planet that is.
But here’s the funny thing.
Everything is doing really, really well up in the kitchen garden. You know, my little garden up by the house in raised beds?
Look at this cabbage we just harvested. I planted it about 10 weeks ago in the kitchen garden. 3.3 pounds all trimmed up. A real winner if you ask me.
The cabbage on the left was grown in the kitchen garden {10 weeks from seedling to harvest}. The cabbage on the right has been in the ground for 6 weeks already and looks basically the same size as when it was planted.
Clearly, raised beds were the way to go this year.
We finally got the 2 Birdie’s Beds filled and planted about a week ago and the seeds I planted {turnip, basil and carrots} are already coming up. Even the tomato plants I put in there look 10 million times better than the ones we planted in the field.
It’s nuts.
This is what one of my pumpkin plants looks like down in the field under landscape fabric.
This is what my neighbor, The Duck Lady’s pumpkin plants looks like {under the same landscape fabric!}. Our pumpkins were planted at the same time!!!
Talk about night and day. There is no comparison. She did say that although her plants are right on schedule for this time of year, she has so many different types of beetles attacking her plants, that she is seriously thinking about not growing ANYTHING in her garden next year.
This is a picture of her corn patch. Everything was going really, really good until the storm the other night knocked nearly every stalk of corn over.
This is what my corn looks like. She thinks my {new} soil is the problem.
I don’t know though. I think it’s all the rain and the fact that the religious family sized garden plot sits lower than her garden {and our kitchen garden as well}. But it did so well last year! So I don’t know. Maybe it is the soil.
All I know is this. The HH is ready to call it a season and pull up all the landscape fabric and just throw down a bunch of grass seed. And really at this point, I don’t blame him.
The End.
~Mavis
Nancy says
Just leave it be and see what happens. Who knows, maybe in a couple of weeks or so the sun will come out and stay. Y’all pack up Lucy and take a couple of days away.
Mrs C says
There are a number of potential issues that could be affecting your garden, exacerbated by the rain, etc.
1. Soil/hay/straw. Chemicals are being found even in so-called “organic” soils, etc. It stunts the growth of a lot of vegetables, or just kills them, especially beans and nightshades.
2. All that rain just washes out the minerals that a plant needs, so foliar feeding with a seaweed emulsion like Neptune’s Harvest, and also adding a granular fertilizer around the plants, may help.
3. After not being bothered by most critters for years, the last few years everyone seems to have found us so we have to treat our garden like Fort Knox: electric fencing, row covers, fences.
4. After growing season, plant cover crops and have the HH till them into the soil before they go to seed.
5. In these garden beds, you may have to make furrows, like you have near your house, and grow on top of them.
Mrs. C. says
Every place is different, and it may take a few years of dedicated effort to build your soil. County extension offices will test your soil for nutrients, pH, etc., but they usually will not test for contaminants. You have to use a different lab for that.
Most hay is sprayed with Grazon before harvesting to kill weeds. It passes into the manure of the animal – cow, goat, rabbits, llamas, etc. – and then it contaminates the soil and kills or stunts plants. This has happened to me, and it is horrible. I’m on year three of working on fixing mat soil.
Margo says
It almost looks like chemical damage from something like Grazon in your large bed if itās not just swampy land issues. Jessica Sowards from Roots and Refuge farms on YouTube got 9yards of contaminated soil and talks about what she is doing to fix the problem over time. I had this problem in my raised beds years ago and it was devastating. Her suggestion is to test it by planting beans in a small amount of the soil and see if they come up properly. Much of my garden failed this year. I got a little depressed about it, but I realize not all years are great. Iām so over itā¦now planning my fall/winter garden and looking forward to it!
Melonie K. says
#1 was exactly what came to mind for me, as well, especially since the kitchen garden is doing well considering your weather. I hope someone from the extension can get by to test for you – I don’t know how busy/staffed they are in your area, but they stay pretty swamped in ours. I hope it gets worked out. I imagine this is incredibly disappointing for you and your HH. You’ve worked so hard on your gardens!
Virginia says
I agree with your neighbor and Mrs. C here ā seems like a soil problem and Iām wondering whether it could possibly be contaminated with herbicide.
(Hopefully, your garden wasnāt planted over a drain field; if so, replant grass and move your garden elsewhere.)
I have heard a lot lately about gardeners unknowingly contaminating their own gardens by adding products laced with herbicide. You could get your soil tested for contaminants, but I understand that is expensive and probably time consuming. A good alternative is to conduct your own bioassay test. Pea seeds are ideal for this test because they grow rapidly and are very sensitive to contaminants so will show signs of distress quickly. Just Google bioassay tests for herbicide to get more info. Take plenty of samples from your family garden, and you could use your kitchen garden soil for a few control samples as well. Although the bioassay test wonāt tell you what particular contaminant is present, it is a pretty reliable test to determine if the soil is contaminated. If you do the bioassay test and grow the pea seeds on your windowsill, you will control the water application and can negate overwatering as a possible reason for poor growth. Good luck, Mavis. Keep us updated and let us know what you decide to do.
Brianna says
You could get a soil test with the county extension or call them and see if others are having similar failure to thrive and stunted growth problems. Perhaps the soil has too much clay and is holding moisture or the rain and the seaweed you used is altering the pH or you killed a some of the beneficial microorganisms with the weed fabric and the soil isnāt healthy for whatever reason. Is the garden on a drain field for your septic? Either way, lots of possibilities and I would reach out to your county extension office and see if they can help you identify the problem. Plus, you always learn something from them you had no idea about, they are a wealth of knowledge.
Karen says
Chin up, you are not alone, many other gardening zones have bad weather this year. We, here in France, are under drought conditions which doesn’t help either.
Rebecca says
SO frustrating! I agree with Nancy- just leave it there and wait and see, because if you pull everything up now, the sun will shine for thirty days straight!! Your kitchen garden has a few more years of prep work compared to the other plot, so maybe the soil in the big garden just needs to get babied for a few more years to produce?
Lynn from NC Outer Banks says
Mavis, how disappointing and disconcerting. After a dismal year last year, we are having a banner year here in the Outer Banks of NC. I think it’s because we actually had a spring this year instead of going from winter straight to summer, and we’ve had plentiful-but not too much-rain.
I’m envious of your cabbage. I planted from seed and they were doing great until the worms completely stripped the leaves and the cabbages stopped growing about softball size.
We used our compost and have wound up with FOURTEEN volunteer grape tomato plants to go with the one we planted.
Maybe with a little sun your big garden will perk up. But it IS such a big disappointment once you invest the time, money and work without any yield. š I’m sorry.
Tracey says
I agree… get out of dodge for a few days. Find some place sunny and fun. Leave the garden to do what it will (or won’t) this year and at the end of the season, pull up the landscape fabric and hit your soil with some amendments to brew over the winter. It’s been a weird “summer” for a lot of people. It’s definitely disappointing. Hang in there.
KJ says
Have you had your soil tested?
Jamie says
That is so strange if hers is growing and yours is not. And the cabbage from your kitchen garden is amazing…. very weird! I would just leave it though though, there is still a lot of summer left and see what happens. Maybe pull up the landscape fabric from around the plants and let the soil breathe and see what happens?
Peg says
I agree with the others, leave everything, because some warm sunny days could make a difference. I would definitely contact your local county extension agent right away, that person can usually offer a wealth of information. Two years in a row here that tomatoes aren’t doing a thing…last year it was too hot and dry, this year we only started having true summer weather last week. Lots of blossoms, 5 itty bitty green tomatoes. However, my pumpkin plants are doing well and will provide pumpkins for our 3 grandbabies (the only reason I planted them).
Anita says
Mavis, I’m so sorry you’re having this problem. I agree with Duck Lady…it’s your soil. The same thing happened to Jess from Roots & Refuge (YouTube) last year. She got a bad batch of compost that had some kind of herbicide in it and it ruined her garden. It’s not the weed fabric. I use the exact same fabric and it’s a Godsend for keeping the weeds out of the garden. In fact, my plants grow better with it than without it. Just let things go for now and see what happens. Maybe it’ll perk up.
OregonGuest says
This has to be the most powerful public service announcement Iāve ever encountered, one that should scare the pants off usāthat we can do everything right and still fail to produce the food we needed and counted on to feed our families. Iām disappointed for you, Mavis, but your bummer of a garden (so far, at least) should light a fire under everyone to work on a much larger pantry of food storage, because you never know whether crop failure on a much larger scale might be in our future! Thank you for this, and keep your chin up!!!
Kelly says
My husbandās family farms and he is a horticulturalist who runs a nursery. Sometimes you can do everything right, and have poor results. I am sure you know this. And that the weather and lack of sun can cause some mood swings. He always says the highs you get when everything grows perfect makes up for the lean years. A farmerās job is to endure.
He would probably till under in September, and do exactly the same next year. But perhaps add a rain gauge to that lower garden just to see how much it is being rained on or if is flooding from lower ground level.
KC says
I’d bet it’s the combo of tons of rainfall and inadequate drainage for that rainfall level (plus possibly some contributing sadness from soil additives?). Maybe next year you can remove a chunk of the topsoil and then plow several bales of straw or coir or something similar into the Big Garden to increase drainage and raise the level of the top of the garden above the waterlogging line?
But yeah. Our 2020 garden was incredible and our 2021 garden was an absolute bust (a super-late frost – several weeks after the “last frost date” for the year – killing our tomato plants to the ground – although they grew back, they lost maybe 8 weeks of growth – four separate things attacking our beans, such that we only got enough for seeds for the following year – cucumber beetles absolutely destroying our zucchini and watermelon – and then an early frost to finish the year off!). Made me very glad that we didn’t *have* to grow all our food!
(this year is middling; drought alternating with thunderstorms has meant tomatoes have thick skins and the worst round of blossom end rot I’ve ever seen, but at least we’re getting some tomatoes and the long beans are doing well?)
Christy says
Very disappointing with all the work that goes into a garden. Since the garden is already planted and landscaping fabric installed, leave it there and see what happens. I’m surprised you haven’t had critter issues before. Without our deer fencing in southeast PA, we’d have no garden.
It has been a strange summer in many place. In the spring we had 5 weeks with not a drop of rain and I have to water using a water can an water storage tank. Then the rain started. Lots for days on end to start but now has tapered off to 1-2 storms a week. The garden is doing well now but having problems with beetles that I’ve never encountered before.
Connie L says
Soil and microclimate, are my educated guesses. Often, good soil building takes a few years. I find, learning from failure outpaces learning without failure. Instead of calling defeat, just extract what has been figured out for future use. Growing isn’t always about the plants.
Mandy Mascaro says
I’m so sorry this happened to you Mavis. At this point there are only 2 things that I can suggest to you.
First, get your soil tested. Quite a few of the gardeners that I follow on various social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc.) have gotten contaminated soil or compost from reputable sources this year. The contamination occurred from whoever and wherever the sources got the soil and compost from and no one ever realized until the gardener used them in their own gardens. There are ways to combat contaminated soil, but you should really get it tested to see if there is contamination at all or even a serious lack of nutrients. You might need to seriously amend the soil. A soil test will be able to tell you these things.
Second, you might need to adjust how you choose to plant. All of that rain and the low field that you have planted in could have stunted the plants. They are constantly being oversaturated with rain and drowning/rotting with no way to dry out. You might need to switch to raised beds instead of planting directly into the ground. Or you could try your hand at something called raised row gardening. Check out Old World Garden Farms. They have a website and sell various books on Amazon to explain their methods. It would allow you to plant directly into the ground without the need/expense of raised beds and allow the rainwater to drain of your plants.
Ashley Bananas says
It’s interesting to see how different the two planting areas are with results. That area did well last year, I wonder if you replicated what you did last year more closely with the seaweed, if you could slowly convert the space back to what you had last year.
I would leave it though, maybe the sun will come out and all will be well.
Another thought, do the garden closer to your house. Consider having a pine tree/Christmas tree farm in the open field. It could be fun.
Jenny Young says
Honestly it’s hard to believe you’ve never had a bad growing season in 30 yrs…that is extremely good luck. I watched the deer pull my last tomato plant up by the roots last week….I’ve almost completely stopped gardening. I just cannot afford to feed the wildlife.
It sounds like you need to throw a party. Have some friends over…cook together, craft, watch a movie, start a book club. And read about 1816, the year summer never came.
Christine Hagen says
I agree with Duck Lady, something was not right in the soil you had brought in. Maybe it was too hot?
Wendy M says
Aside from soil testing, I’m surprised no one has mentioned tiling the field your vegetable garden is in. If your field is too wet, it may simply need some help with drainage to keep it viable. Just a thought.
Heidi N. says
I second what others have suggested. Leave it there & hope for sunshine & warmer temps later on. We have also had a bizarre summer so far – 2 months of daily clouds, cool weather & rain in a place that usually is sunny daily and on the dry side. I only just now harvested a couple of cherry tomatoes & they weren’t as sweet as normal. Everything else I planted also seems behind where it should be. Your kitchen garden cabbage looks terrific! Hang in there! Maybe a mini-getaway is in order.
Katherine says
I think soil testing is an excellent idea. Maybe creating furrows in your religious garden would be a good idea also?
Keeping my fingers crossed you get some dry weather soon.
Heather says
Northern Nevada here. Besides record snow this winter, we had heavy frost the day before the first day of summer in June. We had three Costco tomato plants that almost died and right now we have two blossoms total! Our raspberry plants had lots of raspberry, but they all froze that night too. Our three Costco zucchini plants are doing fine – we have harvested over 20 zucchini now. Past that, the kale and garlic are doing fine.
LoriSA says
I live on a mountainside in BC, Canada. We have terrible soil but incredible drainage. My amended soil does ok some years, and sometimes I get almost nothing. I grow my tomatoes in containers in a greenhouse, as that seems to be the best way to get any tomatoes. My neighbour across the street (and slightly up hill) has terrible drainage and had to plant all their plants on raised berms. We are only a few metres away but have to garden quite differently.
Julie says
Iām so sorry, Mavis!!
I have gardened for almost 30 years alsoā¦.. and there is always lots to learnā¦. But like others have saidā¦since your kitchen garden is doing so well, and by the looks of your plants, I think it is VERY likely that your soil is too rich(?). Soil testing is indeed a good idea!!! May your little garden make you happy!!
Judy says
38 degrees C here. Please rain. Turn the air on at 9:30 am. Runs for twelve hrs.
Cecile Hoare says
Well as I see it you have the perfect situation to confirm your need, purchase and installation of an industrial Quonset hut greenhouse! Use the landscape fabric underfoot and plant in the large buckets the Duck Lady uses. You won’t have to worry about the weather, have full control over the soil content and end up with a longer growing season!
The Duck Lady says
I don’t plant in buckets. I plant straight in the ground. I’d need way too many buckets for that and spend all my time watering. 3/4 of my garden is in landscape fabric and the rest has been taken over by waist high weeds. The bugs have been horrendous and to top off the fun of the beetle invasion I now have root maggots killing my squash plants. This year sucks. Pretty much the only difference between our gardens is the size and that I haven’t had to add soil, just ammend each spring with compost and chicken manure.
Patti says
I hope your garden springs to life soon. We have sometimes had ours go dormant when we have too much heat and then it comes back strong in the fall. I know your growing season is much shorter so that might not work out for you but I wouldn’t give up yet. We had a lot of rain (not as much as you) and it has affected our plants. No peaches due to freezes in the spring, no blueberries due to too much rain (they burst) and our tomatoes have mold on them.
Pam says
I have gotten bad soil before. Have you had your new soil tested? It could be it needs a boost. Also, with all the rain you have been getting the landscape fabric could be a bad thing as it can be keeping the moisture in the ground essentially drowning your plants. The only way to keep pests out of the garden is a fence. It’s well worth the cost. Trust me, I learned that lesson a long time ago. Hang in there. Some years are good, some make us question everything we know.
Lana says
We have beautiful big plants but they are not producing anything. We are stuck in the house day after day because of bad air quality from the Canadian fires. Summer is a bust for sure.
Carol says
Iām so sorry! The situation must be so depressing for you. Iāve followed you for years and know how much you love growing food and what a competent and skilled gardener you are. Clearly, this year, you have a situation beyond your control. Sending hugs from a fellow long term gardener.
Susan Lemay Stanley says
Let it be for now and in the meantime have the soil tested. Youāll know how to amend it for next year. My sister experienced problems and it was the soil she used
Nancy K. says
I live in central Pennsylvania and am going through the same conditions you are with your plants! I nodded my head in agreement after looking at each of your photos.
I think itās been the weather.
Iāll hope for a better fall and next year!
Love your āblogā!
Kristina Zack says
Well, darn. Maybe your soil amendments were too hot, i.e. too much nitrogen? And if it’s drainage, look into amendments to help with that. I add gypsum to my walnut orchard most years, and it really helps the soil take water better. Tillage can actually compact the soil molecules, even though it seems like you’re breaking it up.
It’s hard to accept, but some years just suck. Full stop. And I am sorry. Keep at it, Mavis. You are an excellent gardener. You’ll figure it out. Nothing to gain by pushing it out at this point. Call your ag extension to get the soil tested, and just leave it be (as my old farmer dad would put it). Get outta dodge and stop worrying about it. You never know.
Every experience makes you a better gardener in the long run.
Dawn says
Feeling discouraged with you, Mavis. I’ve gardened here for 30 years and have NEVER seen anything like this summer. I hope I never do again. A bit of sunny weather over here has given me a little hope for the tomatoes, but they need to hurry up! We’re rapidly running out of summer. We just planted buckwheat in the half of the garden that never dried out enough for vegetables. We’ll cut that and get a load of sand delivered. The plan is to till that all in and then plant winter rye. If we can’t grow veggies in it this summer, at least we can try to do something to help improve it for next year. This should have been the year we tried growing rice…or cattails. Ugggh.
Debby T says
Your tomato, peppers and beets look like mine did last year after 2 months. No growth. My son and I decided that ‘possibly’ the soil was too rich. They were new raised beds with a mix of top soil and compost mixed 50/50. This year we took half the soil out and replaced it with ‘chicken dirt’. (sold the chicken coop and scraped about 8″ of the dirt where chickens ranged in a fenced area). What a difference. Tomatoes are loaded. Peppers are thick and producing a lot. Planted cucumbers and melons, and they are also looking good. Although it has been 2 months I have noticed they are starting to weaken, so tomorrow I think I will dig out the Miracle Grow, to give them a boost. I was so disheartened last year but am more hopeful now. – I have followed your progress and hard work with this new garden and expected great success, but it seems to have mirrored the progress I experienced with mine last year. I didn’t have my soil tested. My husband figured it may of had too much acid. I don’t know but the ‘chicken dirt’ made a big difference. Now to get more ‘chicken dirt’. A friend has chickens now and got my first 3 buckets (-the dirt, + straw) yesterday. It is not too late to test another area of this garden, with improved soil, to see if there is an improvement. Don’t give up and good luck..
Victoria Fetui says
I have watched your wonderful gardens grow for ages…at least a decade+ and they have always been beautiful. I am inclined to agree the the Duck Lady about it being your new soil. You didn’t add any of it to the kitchen garden, did you? And it looks great!
Maybe it will turn around before the season is over. The weather has been unusual all over the place…maybe we all have a chance.
Elle says
I really think you got “hot” compost/soil. There is no other reason for the crop to be different out there than the kitchen garden. It happened to me once. The next year my garden was fine.
Mary says
Mavis, I agree with the miserable summer. Too hot & blight on my tomatoes and something eating my squash & brussel sprout leaves. It is quite the mess. I am praying for Fall already!