my wife and I are new to gardening and we started a smaller "square foot garden". the dimensions of the box are 8ftx4ftx1ft. its a raised bed made with cedar boards. the soil is a "garden mix" by miracle grow with "self-releasing food balls" or something.. lol. anyway, I've layered the bed. starting at the bottom, I used some cardboard as a barrier from the sand(in FL, SAND IS EVERYWHERE) and then used a layer of dead leaves and small sticks, then about 8 cu ft of soil, I repeated this three more times. on the last layer of soil I also mixed in about 25 pounds of composted cow manure. we currently have carrots, basil, bell peppers, tomatoes, okra, cucumbers and pole beans growing. they are actually doing very well.

the other day I noticed a few small spots appearing on the leaves and saw a few creepy crawlies on the topsoil. so I did some reading and made my own garden spray. I blended whole garlic cloves, cayenne pepper, peppermint oil extract and some tepid FILTERED water with some dish soap. I let this ferment for a few days before straining it through some cheese cloth. I then used about half a cup of the cayenne mixture with some rain water I caught in a 5 gallon bucket.

I sprayed this on the plants a few times over the next two weeks. I was also worried that there were some Ferrell cats and squirrels and some other critters getting in my garden so I figured the cayenne pepper spray would deter them. I think they're getting in there because my wife and I label each plant "area" with a chopstick topped with wine cork. some came up missing a while ago... lol.

it seems the spots have not gone away. could this possibly be a fungus or mildew. how about a nutrient deficiency?

any information would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance!!!

corey