# What did I do wrong?



## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

Ok gardeners, this year's garden is dismal for me. First off, we had a long cold spring but I planted the day after mother's day. The plants that I bought have done fine, cabbage, kohlrabi and tomatoes look great. The seeds are half and half. Carrots look fine, okra came up spotty, but came up. Green beans and corn didn't come up even after planting again. I rotate my garden every year so this year green beans are in the spot where summer squash and zucchini was last year. We went through all the jars of green beans over the winter so I wanted to plant another row this year. Three rows and none of them came up! Had lots of rain, some sun, fairly cool so maybe that was it. I replanted. 4 of them came up!! The corn is the same. Took up space for 6 rows of the stuff and I might have a dozen, sickly looking plants about 4-6 inches tall at this point. Again, after replanting. This spring/summer has been very odd for our area with quite a lot of rain and cool temps. Aside from the weather, the only other thing I can think that may have contributed would be the manure we put on. We cleaned out the goat barn from it's winter build up in early March when we had two warm days in a row. The bottom layer was already pretty much composted, the top was a lot of uneaten hay. All of it was spread out and then left until May when I tilled it all in. Is that too hot for seeds to sprout? Should I not be tilling up the garden in the spring at all? The dirt gets so hard and crusty over the winter that I don't know how anything at all would grow if I didn't till it first. I don't want to add a bunch of chemicals because I want to learn how to do things now before I can't go to the nursery to get chemicals, kwim? Maybe the seeds were bad? Does that happen? I've got to figure out what I did wrong so I can avoid it next year. To have THAT much failure in my garden is going to put us in a bind this winter and it's really ticking me off!


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## Enchant18 (Feb 21, 2012)

I had problems with almost all the seeds I planted this year. The ones that did germinate quickly withered when put in the ground. All were purchased from the same place I always buy from with normally good results. I did bring a few indoors in pots and those are doing great. Not sure what has changed this year to cause a problem.


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## readytogo (Apr 6, 2013)

*I`m no expert,but.....*

Lettuce and parsley seeds are typically viable for just one year. Pumpkin, squash and melon seeds will still germinate after three or four years. Seed companies protect themselves from consumer disappointment by packing and selling seeds recommended only for use during the current growing year. Almost all seeds are at least 70 to 80 percent viable when used during their "packed for" year. Many seeds will also germinate well the next year. But successful seed germination after that depends on how seeds have been stored -- and prepared for storage.
You can save a lot of seed money by saving each year's leftover seeds -- and even more money by harvesting and saving non-hybrid seeds. Package seeds in paper packets -- labeled and dated -- and store them inside moisture-proof jars or cans kept in a refrigerator or freezer. Include a desiccant, such as dried rice grains, in the bottom of containers.
If you're not sure how viable a batch of seeds may be, find out with a simple germination test. Place 10 seeds on a folded-over, damp paper towel and slide them into a plastic bag and then seal it. Be sure to label the bag with seed type and the date. Leave the bag at room temperature for seven to 10 days -- longer for slow-germinating carrot, celery and parsley seeds. Then simply count the number of seeds that sprout. If eight or more seeds germinated -- an 80 percent or better germination rate -- that batch of seeds is good. Discard any batch with five or fewer successful seeds. If you get six or seven germinating seeds, use the seed but sow it more thickly than you would otherwise.
Have to start my garden one of this days....


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

We had a much tougher time than normal, it was all weather related for us. The cold rainy spring caused a lot of our root crops to rot in the ground. We had late frost and a hail storm or two, I'm amazed we have what we have.


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## crabapple (Jan 1, 2012)

My seeds, new & aged came up fine this year.
I have a great carrot stand for the first time, I was planting to deep or not watering as much as I should.
Fruit trees,bushes, vines are loaded, wonder if the two ice storm had anything to do with it.
I alway have raspberries, everything is good this year.
I did direct planting of seeds or used transplant from the store this year, my tomato seedling, started at home did not make it.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

You said you tilled in uncomposted hay along with the manure? Around here almost all the hay you get has been sprayed with some kind of herbicide and it's easy to check for.

Just pack a 5 gallon bucket with your hay sample, fill it with water, let it soak for a day or two then water some broad leaf plants with it - if they die or start to show abnormal growth - thats likely the culprit. In this area if I have problems thats usually the cause.

With herbicide use becoming more and more popular in "agriculture" it's getting harder to find "stuff" to put on your garden thats not contaminated with it, this year I've even had problems with bagged compost I've picked up at Lowes and Home Depot.

After I plant rows of seeds, if they haven't broken ground in a reasonable amount of time I dig in the rows and check to see if they have sprouted and keep a check on their progress. 

Since your entire garden seems to be effected, my guess is that it isn't the seeds, check around and see if other gardens have been having similar problems, that could rule out weather.


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## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

Well, guess I never thought about the hay in the poop being a problem. I can ask the guy if he sprayed but he's such a insane tight wad that I have big doubts that he'd spend the money on weed killer. Thanks for the suggestions though and thank GOD I'm not the only one with some gardening failures!!


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

lazydaisy67 said:


> Thanks for the suggestions though and thank GOD I'm not the only one with some gardening failures!!


Don't think of this as a failure.... think of it as being one year closer to the perfect garden! :congrat:


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## GaryS (Nov 15, 2011)

I no longer plant a big garden and now just have two raised beds for the crops that taste best fresh and don't take up a lot of space.

The losers from seed are/were carrots, and lettuce. Maybe ten percent came up and the ones that did are way behind where they should be. Broccoli looks beautiful and I did get enough peas to eat fresh, but not enough to freeze before they got hit by disease. They didn't taste that good anyway, so it wasn't a great loss.

From sets, tomatoes look as nice as any I've ever raised, with a couple Early Girls soon ready to pick. This is the first year I haven't had to battle the hornworms by this time. The two varieties of peppers in the same bed are pathetic. They just sit there and do nothing. The one pepper that got beyond the flower stage was so malformed that I threw it in the compost.

I have one volunteer squash that's looking fine so far, and some giant sunflowers I planted for the birds are about ready to form flowers.

All in all, nothing to brag about, but for the first year on this property and the horrible cold winter and spring, I won't complain too much.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

Sounds like the corn and bean seeds rotted in the ground. They need warm soil to germinate well and too wet will just rot them before they sprout.

For the corn not doing well, corn is a heavy feeder, needs lots of nutrients. If there was a lot of hay, it might be using up all the nitrogen to decompose and starving the plants. Try a side dressing with blood meal or something and see if that perks them up.

It is a good practice to till or spread manure and compost on the garden in the fall, before putting it to bed for the winter. Lime then too if your soil requires it. Then till again in the spring to mix it up. This gives it a few months to break down before planting. If you have access to manure in the spring and no place to store it (letting it compost over the summer) you can still use green manure in the garden. Wait until the plants are up and do a side dressing with it. Go a couple inches away from each row/plant and spread a thin layer out on each side. For tomatoes and such spread a thin ring around them, out to the drip edge of the plants. We are talking a sprinkling of it, not like a solid packed down layer. You can cover it with a little compost or soil if it smells or is unsightly. As it rains, it will produce manure tea and filter it into the ground.

To know exactly how much to use is hard, not being there to see the plants or look at/smell your soil. But you can experiment!!! Plant a few extra's of something, or even use what corn you have already. Spread a very sparse, light amount around one. Go to the next and spread it a little heavier, next one more... After a week you should be able to see which ones are doing better than the others.

And, there is still time to replant just about everything!


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

My meme...again.
This is why we never ever ever depend on a garden.
Have 2 or 3 years food if it is only rice, beans, and macaroni---with spices of course and chicken dumplings and beef stew, and tuna and canned chicken....well, we get the point.
I lost lots of tomatoes last year to the wilt..so did two neighbors.
So, this year in my expanding raised beds, waited to see, yep, once again; sprayed once the Ortho disease b gon and will spray again tonight.
Affected the squash, bell peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes.
I know cause the leaves wilted.
Now, every year will have to spray and buy hybrid disease -free plants.

Tonight, one more squash, one more cucumber, and one more jalapeno.
I like planting this way and not all the fruit comes in at once...hear that Ross?? (dad)


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

JayJay said:


> This is why we never ever ever depend on a garden.


I've been growing vegies for 40 years and the only thing I guarantee is that something will fail every year , sometimes lots more than one thing. I try to allow for 2 fail crops out of three. This is especially important with seed saving, I always save much more than I need for the following season.
I've had 3 bad tomato seasons in a row, for three very different reasons, still have enough in jars to see me through 2 more bad years. I had just enough for ketchup and salsa this year only a fraction of what I like to grow.
Potatoes failed this year, sweet corn was rubbish, climbing green beans weren't great either. All our salad greens were AMAZING as were peppers and squash. Carrots grew like weeds, they usually do, easiest vege for me here. 
We had horrible storms when the apricots were flowering and only had a light crop as a result.
Spring before last I had to resow corn, beans and most root crops as we had a month of wet and cold in late spring, seed turned to mush.


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