It's odd, but every year some things get better and others get worse
with respect to my backyard vegetable garden.

This is indeed a slow way to learn. So I ask your advice.

For the past two consecutive seasons, my tomatoes and cucumbers for some
reason have not flourished as I know they could/should have.

The transplants just kind of sit there -- and do nothing!

Sure, I get a flower or two here or there, but not the abundance of
fruit that I once had.

And that's the kicker -- when I started five years ago I did nothing but
turn over a patch of lawn and set the transplants in. They thrived.

Now that I'm a "gardener", they're suffering. Crikey! I must be reading
too many gardening books.

Nowadays, four and five years later, the tomato/cuke plants just sit
there. Sure I water them. But here in July they're not much bigger than
the transplants I set out in mid May.

They ain't dying but they ain't growing neither.

I've set up a watering system, amended soil with peat, lime, straw, or
other organic matter, but ....


The corn and beans are doing well -- better than they've ever done --
but the tomatoes, onions and cukes are languishing, the asparagus is
just as fern like as it has always been, and the lettuce/mustard patch
is just so-so. All plots of soil in this raised bed garden have been
handled/treated in the same way over the years -- a dose of 10-10-10 in
Spring, set out plants, grow plants, cover with grass/mulch in winter,
start over.

Zone 5b, NY, 20 miles due north of NYC. I see blooming fields all
around, just not mine.

Any suggestions?

J.

J. wrote:
It's odd, but every year some things get better and others get worse
with respect to my backyard vegetable garden.

This is indeed a slow way to learn. So I ask your advice.

For the past two consecutive seasons, my tomatoes and cucumbers for some
reason have not flourished as I know they could/should have.

The transplants just kind of sit there -- and do nothing!

Sounds like they're not getting pollinated. Are they in greenhouses that
keep the bees out? Have you noticed a decline in your wild bees? (No
problem with bee numbers up here).

You can try pollinating the plants by hand. I did it last year with my
first crop of cucumbers since they were in the greenhouse. IIRC, I just
used a q-tip and wiped inside a male flower and then dappled it in a
female one (thinking now...yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the female that
becomes the fruit...it's the flower that looks like it's a tiny cucumber).

I might also suggest a fertilizer that is lighter on Nitrogen which can
promote a lot of green grown but fewer flowers.

Curious to see other responses.

..

Zone 5b in Canada's buzzing Far East.

--

We must change the way we live,
or the climate will do it for us.

J. said:

I've set up a watering system, amended soil with peat, lime, straw, or
other organic matter, but ....


The corn and beans are doing well -- better than they've ever done --
but the tomatoes, onions and cukes are languishing, the asparagus is
just as fern like as it has always been, and the lettuce/mustard patch
is just so-so. All plots of soil in this raised bed garden have been
handled/treated in the same way over the years -- a dose of 10-10-10
in
Spring, set out plants, grow plants, cover with grass/mulch in winter,
start over.

Zone 5b, NY, 20 miles due north of NYC. I see blooming fields all
around, just not mine.

Any suggestions?

#1: Get yourself a soil test, ASAP. Contact Cornell:
http://www.css.cornell.edu/soiltest/newindex.asp

You want to check the major nutrients, most important minor
nutrients, and pH.

#2: Follow their recommendations, which may be to lay off some
nutrients (years of 10-10-10 may have oversupplied phosphorous)
and add in others (micronutrients like magnesium, for example).

My personal preference is for organic fertilizers on my own sandy
soil, and my main additions each year are compost and alfalfa
pellets.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

"J." wrote in message
...
It's odd, but every year some things get better and others get worse with
respect to my backyard vegetable garden.

snip snip

Any suggestions?

J.

Rotate them. Don't grow the same veggies in the same ground year after year.

At the end of this growing season, plant green manure. Plow it under and let
it feed the soil... Something Leguminous, clover is my favorite. And rotate
your crops next season.

-Mariana
p.s. other cover crops that enhance the soil:

Winter Field Beans
Mustard
Lupin
Winter Tares



"J." wrote in message
...
It's odd, but every year some things get better and others get worse with
respect to my backyard vegetable garden.

This is indeed a slow way to learn. So I ask your advice.

For the past two consecutive seasons, my tomatoes and cucumbers for some
reason have not flourished as I know they could/should have.

The transplants just kind of sit there -- and do nothing!

Sure, I get a flower or two here or there, but not the abundance of fruit
that I once had.

And that's the kicker -- when I started five years ago I did nothing but
turn over a patch of lawn and set the transplants in. They thrived.

Now that I'm a "gardener", they're suffering. Crikey! I must be reading
too many gardening books.

Nowadays, four and five years later, the tomato/cuke plants just sit
there. Sure I water them. But here in July they're not much bigger than
the transplants I set out in mid May.

They ain't dying but they ain't growing neither.

I've set up a watering system, amended soil with peat, lime, straw, or
other organic matter, but ....


The corn and beans are doing well -- better than they've ever done --
but the tomatoes, onions and cukes are languishing, the asparagus is just
as fern like as it has always been, and the lettuce/mustard patch is just
so-so. All plots of soil in this raised bed garden have been
handled/treated in the same way over the years -- a dose of 10-10-10 in
Spring, set out plants, grow plants, cover with grass/mulch in winter,
start over.

Zone 5b, NY, 20 miles due north of NYC. I see blooming fields all around,
just not mine.

Any suggestions?

J.

I brought in a bunch of dirt I bought at a nursery one year that garden
produced more fruit than I ever seen. I am going to that next year refill
all my beds with fresh dirt.
"J." wrote in message
...
It's odd, but every year some things get better and others get worse with
respect to my backyard vegetable garden.

This is indeed a slow way to learn. So I ask your advice.

For the past two consecutive seasons, my tomatoes and cucumbers for some
reason have not flourished as I know they could/should have.

The transplants just kind of sit there -- and do nothing!

Sure, I get a flower or two here or there, but not the abundance of fruit
that I once had.

And that's the kicker -- when I started five years ago I did nothing but
turn over a patch of lawn and set the transplants in. They thrived.

Now that I'm a "gardener", they're suffering. Crikey! I must be reading
too many gardening books.

Nowadays, four and five years later, the tomato/cuke plants just sit
there. Sure I water them. But here in July they're not much bigger than
the transplants I set out in mid May.

They ain't dying but they ain't growing neither.

I've set up a watering system, amended soil with peat, lime, straw, or
other organic matter, but ....


The corn and beans are doing well -- better than they've ever done --
but the tomatoes, onions and cukes are languishing, the asparagus is just
as fern like as it has always been, and the lettuce/mustard patch is just
so-so. All plots of soil in this raised bed garden have been
handled/treated in the same way over the years -- a dose of 10-10-10 in
Spring, set out plants, grow plants, cover with grass/mulch in winter,
start over.

Zone 5b, NY, 20 miles due north of NYC. I see blooming fields all around,
just not mine.

Any suggestions?

J.