Victoria, I suspect you are on to something. My method is to stick the
plants in the ground and water them whenever I think they're too dry.
I really don't fertilize them -- except I had a load of fresh dirt
spread over my garden, and I had the soil checked and the report was
good. I was supposed to spread 3 pounds of nitrogen for 100 sq. ft.
once per month.

I suppose that's not right, right? My other vegetables are doing fine
-- corn, squash, cucumbers, egg plant, bell peppers, potatoes, sweet
potatoes, okra, asparagus, green beans, cabbage -- all did or doing
quite fine.

Arthur Bay