Okay, well, you're in zone 5, so the tomatoes should be coming along any day now. If they have lots of greenies, as you say, those will ripen. Maybe you planted all later-ripening varieties and you weren't aware? Pole beans take their time, but if they are climbing and look healthy just wait a while longer. I am in 6b and just starting to eat the pole beans now (which is why I plant bush beans in the Spring because I can eat those earlier). Tell us more about your growing environment.

You're doing MUCH better than I am, and I'm into my second year. My melons never came up. I haven't gotten a zuke or brassica yet. I can't grow carrots for the life of me. And my one volunteer lettuce got eaten by flea beetles. I did get lots of potatoes last year, but most of them were pea to marble sized.

You've got something out of your garden, and that's good for a beginner. At least I think so.

Sometimes it feels like FOREVER for those tomatoes to ripen. So just hang in there.

There is obviously something lacking or going on, and once you figure out what it is, and how to fix it, your yield will increase, and hopefully your efforts will pay off.

Ultimately all growers experience failures, setbacks and disappointments. As soon as you figure out what to do differently with a plant, a different problem will strike.

I don't have any specific advice as I really do not have a feel for what is going on in your garden.

What I will say is that not everyone who grows plants is a gardener. A gardener experiences failures and then spends the winter trying to figure out what to do differently the next year.

There is no shame whatsoever in not being a gardener.

If you stick with it you *will* find solutions, if it is more hassle than you wish to deal with, that's OK too.

When the tomatoes start to come, they will come all at once (it seems).

It has been a different kind of year with the cool spring and all, some things are just starting to take off for me.

Eggplant and peppers are still small but then I started mine outside. I just didn't put a whole lot of effort into it. Mine is mostly volunteers this year.

Hang in,
Gumby_CT who thinks gardening is one experiment after another.

How tall are your tomato plants? Did you amend your soil in the spring, added lots of compost or manure, forked it at least 8-12" deep? Did you add anything else to it? (gypsum, peat moss, lime, fertilizer, etc?) You planted them in May, did you have any cool nights below 50 degrees since in the ground? Any fertilizer & what kind & what N-P-K analysis? You are growing in-ground, not containers?

And did you get a soil test so you know what nutrients to add. You really should do this. My soil, for example, is extraordinarily high in magnesium, so high that the normally used dolomitic limestone would have made it toxic. Gypsum would have increased the toxicity. No way to have known this without a soil test.

ALL soil, whether sand or clay, needs organic matter. Even if your soil starts out as the mythic humus rich loam, it still needs organic matter when you think of the huge mass of organic matter that is yearly removed from a vegetable garden. You have to return something to the soil.

My soil was so deficient the first few years I tried to grow stuff that root crops were inedible--stunted and bitter, and tomatoes plants died soon after planting. Few flowers would bloom and many died. If you want to become a gardener, find out what your soil needs and feed the soil, not the plants.

I am in my fourth year and it has gotten better every year, but even this year I made plenty of mistakes. You learn from your mistakes belive me. In addition, I would reccomend reading as much as possible. Books and online information are availble. Check out the University's in your region. For Ex http://www.msue.msu.edu/portal/
Put vegetable gardening in the search and see what comes up. No better way to learn than to read and make mistakes.

Hi
I also had the same problem for 5 years. i wanted to give too.. This year i figured out my problem.....not enough sun.
when we moved here, i made a garden that was about 8' x 10'...i planted every year and would end up with a rotting/moldy mess, with 1 or 2 zukes, 5 tomaotes and plants that were at best 4 ft tall.
This year i tore out that garden and planted grass there. I took a chance planting in beds around my house ( were meant for flowers but i cannot grow flowers - long story) Anyways where the plants live now, they have full sun 8+ a day, and they are thriving. not sure if that is what happening to you, but it took me a long time to understand what was what wrong here.

I'm in zone 5 too, and have yet to have any ripe tomatoes at all - cherry or otherwise. I've got plenty of greenies though, and I can understand your frustration! When your green tomatoes start to ripen, you'll probably eventually be inundated in tomatoes, giving them away and preserving to keep up. Those delicious, juicy ripe tomatoes tend to cause amnesia; they wipe out the bad memories of working hard to get them going, and waiting forever for them to ripen.

I've been gardening for 6 years now. Don't give up! It's disheartening to put in all that effort and not get the return you expected.

I'm having an off year this year due to pests. The best thing you can do is read to find out why you're having an off year. Then you can learn from it and figure out what to do the next year. I think all gardeners have been in your shoes before and have felt discourage, but YOU CAN DO IT!

It was my first year too. I planted all sorts of stuff and have been disappointed with what has come up. 2 brocolli plants, no cauliflower, no melons, pumkins or squash. Onions are tiny, bell pepper plant only have a total of two peppers, some jalepnos. Beans and peas came up sporadically, only about 10% of what I planted. Tomatoes, have lots of them but they are all green. Cukes are ok, zuccini real good, (but I don't eat them). But with how 'bad' my garden is in my mind, I can't wait until next year! Already started planning on what I am going to do differently. Don't give up because going out and finding that surprise "whatever" that I didn't see the last time I was in the garden just makes me happy. It could be the cuke, or the zuccini, or that one red tomato!

I am in the same boat here.

I planted watermelons, Cukes, pumpkins and everything else. The only thing I thought was sun so I cut a couple a trees down opened up some. And then I thought water and got a soaker hose on the plants still lots of green vines but no fruit or even signs of it.

I dont know if I dont have enought sun people say 5-7 hours I think I am at the 5 hour mark. I also have the timmer for water on ever other day for 40 minutes. Well any advice would be great.

Yep, we have still all green tomatoes, too. Give them a few more weeks, we just now have a couple that are starting to show a hint of color and we are at least a couple 100 miles south of you. And in the meantime, if you truly do have lots and lots of green tomatoes, there are things you can do with them, too... fry them, slice them and make "mock apple" pies, chop them up for relishes. Just make sure to leave enough so that you will have enough ripe ones later to use as you wish. Best of luck!!

I have gardened for 13 years and had some great years and some so-so years. This year has been the absolute best. You never stop learning when it comes to growing veggies.

Recommended book: Gardening When it Counts, by Steve Solomon. This is the first book that really made me understand what goes on out there in the veg garden. And the organic fertilizer recipe I learned from it has given me an incredible harvest this year.
-O

Gardening is great fun whenÂ.
You start your seedlings indoors in the throes of winter
You watch them grow in size and number day by day
You go outside and prepare the soil, smelling the sweet perfume of damp earth
You place the first plants in the ground, followed by others and still more others
You pick the first of your fresh salad greens, something youÂve missed for months
You plant your tomatoes, peppers and other summer things
You watch them flower, which turn into little fruits
You bask in the spring rains that cause everything to grow in leaps and bounds

Yes, gardening is great fun untilÂ.
The varmints move in, digging, eating, and trampling
Weeds start sprouting, faster than you can pull them out
The insects arrive, intent on destroying everything youÂve done so far
Temperatures climb, raising the sweat factor, making it too damn hot to be out there
Rain becomes scarce, making the lawn, the garden and you feel parched and lifeless
Things succumb. A tomato plant, or two, a squash, a cuke
You count your losses: blight, borer, beetles, grubs, mites  theyÂve done you in
YouÂre frustrated and disappointed. You wonder if you really want to do this again

But not for long. Once the fall arrives, and then the winter, you begin to miss it
You miss the things that you did bring to the picking stage
You miss the fun parts, before the challenges piled up
The huge tomato salads you made, in spite of everything; the things you gave away
YouÂve learned a lot
Next year you will do better
And with a little luck, you will
Yes, gardening is great fun

I've seen that post elsewhere... if it is original, well done. ;-) Maybe we should start a garden prose thread?

Gardening is a process of ongoing education & experimentation. Hopefully, each year you improve your soil, discover a new technique, or find a new variety, to make things easier next year. Sometimes it's as simple as learning what _not_ to do. Eventually, you get better at it, and the "fun factor" increases. Chatting with other gardeners helps you get there faster.

But there is a saying: "Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you." Nowhere is this more true than in gardening. To be a gardener is to realize that some things you can control - and some you can't. You can do everything right, only to lose to foul weather, pests, or disease. After one of those years, when "the bear got you", it can be really frustrating - doubly so if it was your first experience.

But there will also be overwhelming successes; and sometimes, these can come in the midst of other failures. When I plan my summer garden, I diversify... some crops to thrive on warm weather, some that will tolerate cool. In any given year, there will be both failures and successes. I learn from the failures, and revel in the successes. Don't expect total perfection, because Nature seldom works that way.

Each year brings new challenges; but if you have the will, everything from hail, to deer, to SVB can be dealt with. Last year, I lost all of my Hubbard squash to borers & squash bugs... this year I covered the plants with Remay until they bloomed, and it appears that I will have a bumper crop. Deer destroyed my greens, and raccoons my corn, until I put up an electric fence... no trouble since.

For each bad year (we've all had them) there will be incredibly rewarding years as well. Take heart, keep trying... and feel free to vent. ;-)

organica care to share that organic fertilizer recipe

The bad years make the good years much more special and the good years make the bad years bearable. That's life! ;)

Dave

The original poster posted the same rant at the Tomato Forum... but hasn't answered any of the questions asked of them at either place.

Agreed - it would be nice to know if things have improved since the original post or if any of the info provided has been of assistance. ;)

Dave