Garden Status One Month In - Success and Potential Failure

This blog post is a status report on the state of the vegetable garden one month in.  Several types of plants are doing great while others, not so much.  I also believe each type of plant that is failing may be due to differing issues.  I'll be speculating on each problem and whether there is a remedy or if next year I just need to not plant certain types of vegetables.

I'll start with the good news first, the Tomatoes are looking great.  I planted six varieties and all are healthy with plenty of flowers and green tomatoes.  There are no pest or disease issues identified.

 

 

 

Next up is the Zucchini and it is also going gangbusters.  We planted 4 plants (all the same variety), and they are blooming up a storm and all have baby zucchinis.  No pest or disease issues identified.

 

 

 

 

The Broccoli is also doing great.  We planted 6 plants, all the same variety, and all 6 are healthy and growing broccoli heads.  I did have to tie them up because they were so top heavy they were falling over.  No pest or disease issues identified. 

The Cucumbers are also flourishing.  We have two varieties and all are growing well and starting to grow up the trellis.  There are a few flowers (not a lot) but no fruit yet.  I'm hopeful I will start seeing flowers this week.  If I don't, than there may be a problem.

 

Problematic Vegetables

My one lone Cabbage plant looks pretty good.  There are no disease issues.  However, we do have pest issues.  Check out the holes on the leaves.

I found the culprit, a slug.  So far I've only found one in the garden, but I applied slug bait on the gravel on the ground surrounding the raised beds.  I'm hoping this will reduce any problems with slugs.

 In the front of the broccoli is Swiss Chard.  It has been affected somewhat by some kind of pest (most likely leaf miners) but not greatly.  One of the plants bolted (it bloomed early) and I cut the bolts off because we eat the leafs of this plant, not the flowers.

 

Next up are the Radishes, Beets, Spinach and Beans - this one entire bed of vegetables.  All of these were seed planted, not transplants.  Something is attacking all of these plants and I wonder if it is leaf miners as I originally suspected and was identified in the Sequim Gazette that I linked to in my previous blog post.  

 https://www.sequimgazette.com/life/get-it-growing-leaf-miners/

In addition, none of the plants are growing well even though I have fertilized all the garden once thus far.  They do not look healthy at all.  I also wonder if all of these plants are affected by the cooler soil temperature and that they do not get enough sun.  This particular bed gets slightly more dappled shade than and possibly these specific plants can't handle that.

I want to discuss the Peppers.  I planted different varieties of Bell Peppers as well as Jalapeno Peppers.  Peppers were our most prolific and healthy plants in North Texas.  These plants do not seem to be affected by disease or pests but they are not thriving.  I believe they are affected by cool soil temperatures.  They have also been fertilized once thus far.

 

 

I have the same issues with Eggplants as with the peppers unfortunately.  

 

 

 

 

 They are failing to thrive although they do have purple blooms.   

 

 

Next up are the vegetables in the cloth pots.  These include a different variety of Big Kahuna Beans which are doing great, Carrots and Lettuce and some flowers (Nasturtiums and Cosmos).  In this case the carrots and lettuce have the same issues as previously identified with the spinach, beets, and radishes which leads me to believe they also don't like the cooler soil temperatures and are not getting enough sun.  They are also impacted by the leaf miners.

 

 

 

 

I still have serious concerns about what I see as the lack of pollinators but I must say that even though there appears to be a small number of them, they are doing their jobs for the tomatoes and zucchinis.  I have a few honeybees.

We also have a small bumble bee here in Washington that is quite a bit smaller than the Texas bumblebees I am familiar with.  I have also seen some very small solitary bees and what my grandmother called "news" bees but I have been unable to get a picture of them yet.

 

 

I like to see my garden from my front porch - it brings me so much happiness, even when problems arise.  I'll continue to refine my gardening approach and hopefully can learn what plants will bring the most success up here in Sequim, WA.

 

 

 

As a final note, I collected some small hag stones when I visited the beach last time and placed them in the planting pot for good luck and and to ward off evil spirits.  Hopefully they will help me to overcome disease and pests in my garden.   I'll keep moving forward with this years experiments!

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/lifestyle/2021/08/09/hag-stones-have-holes-they-just-rocks-source-good-luck/5462286001/