I'm puzzled at failure of corn and chard to germinate this year. They've
always done fine before. I planted the same corn that I did last year, and
of two packets got only 8 plants. I'm guessing maybe I got a bad lot.

But that doesn't explain the chard. I planted the same chard that I did last
year (not in the same place as last year, but a place where it did well a
couple years ago) and it never came up. A second packet of a different kind
from a different company failed. A third packet from yet another company
failed. The area is moist but well drained, more evenly watered now than the
last time I grew chard there. I screened it against birds and rabbits.
Muskmelons, asparagus, beans, and cilantro are growing just fine all around
the spot where the chard never came up, and weeds don't have a problem with
it. Any ideas what went wrong?

Kathy