Marcia, I wouldn't necessarily blame the garden location. I think we get reasonably similar weather patterns when you get them. Last summer was almost a complete washout for my garden too, I had NO corn, a few potatoes (strangely, what I did get were HUGE - one spud was 2 lbs), parsnip failure, squash family didn't grow, etc. It was just so cool and rainy.

This year, everything was slow because the spring was cold and wet, but in the last 2 weeks with the heat things are taking off. Especially the corn - it's going nuts! I have 2 medium-sized green peppers and 4 green tomatoes already. But 2 weeks ago everything was tiny. In fact my zucchini still is.

I'm thinking it's just been the funny weather. Give it another year of normal weather at least, before you worry too much about having moved stuff around.

Y'know, I think Billy said something about last year being horrible growing conditions in T.B. too. Where IS Billy? The forum has been so serious lately... Billy? You on holiday?

Interesting problem Marcia. I don't have a solution or even an explanation...but here are some thoughts.

Scratch the garden performance last year. No one had a good garden that terribly cold summer.

The raised beds would need more water than any other part of the garden. Shouldn't be a problem this year with the high rainfall....but occasionally it might need to be watered because it is raised. Also, now that your garden is in full sun....the need for water is increased. But like I said, with the rain we've had, this is an unlikely culprit.

Cole crops may be a bit sulky in this hot weather.

You moved the soil from the old garden. Did you add a general all-purpose fertilizer? If you didn't, it is possible the soil is somewhat or seriously depleted from years of gardening. A soil test might be in order? Or...try this experiment. Mix a liquid fertilizer like Miracle Grow or equivalent....half strength. Late in the evening (not during the hot sun) use it as a foliar spray. Select a few plants here and there of each type for the spraying.....making sure that the plant next to it is about equal size. In a week or so...if there is a significant difference between the sprayed and unsprayed plants then low soil nutrients might be the problem. Ideally, spray the potatoes with something that has a high Phosphorus (bigger middle number) like a rose fertilizer. Corn should get something with a higher nitrogen (higher first number). But for the purposes of an experiment...any foliar fertilizer will do.

Your planting date sounds fine and should have no bearing on the garden performance.

I can understand your discouragement....this year the veggie garden should be flourishing with the heat and rain.

Incidentally, I planted potatoes on June 2nd and about 70% of them rotted in the ground. Go Figure? Replanted on July 2nd and they came up quickly and are doing fine. My broccoli is quite awful...everytime it put out a new leaf something turned it into lace or ate it totally. Bugs and more bugs this year. Up until a week ago it was only a 2 inch stem with a few remnants of leaves. Finally, it has shown signs that it might live. Don't hold out much hope for it. The rest of the stuff is loving the weather.

Bottom line....do a soil test?
Jan

We do water our gardens, and we use pond water, not from the well because that's icy cold (we're on a spring). And the rain, when it comes, must help, but sometimes i wonder if the water evaporates before it sinks into the ground.

As for fertilizer, i did throw in some organic pellets of some kind for vegetables when i was planting in the spring, and should do it again soon. I had some watered down compost and poured that on the two pumpkin plants in the hopes that it would give them a lift, but it hasn't seemed to. I'll look in Canadian Tire today when i go to see what could be used as a foliar spray.

A soil test might be in order - we've never done that. We've added amendments almost every year, so we figured things were okay.

I'm sure Mike's first batch of potatoes rotted, and maybe some of the second planting as well. That garden has less sun and less evaporation - more weeds, too, because he doesn't bother weeding much. I should probably go and do that, but - i don't! LOL

Bugs! Yes, there seem to be a lot of them around this year. Mostly i notice them on the flowers - black and red beetles and black and green ones. And what looks like cabbage worms on a couple of things, including roses. Weird. Cut worms and grubs too - i've found those in places, and they've met their fates. Some of the broccoli and bean leaves have been "laced" but not all.

Anyway, we won't give up (no matter what dh says! LOL). A gardener's credo - "There's always next year". :)

Thanks for your insights, Northspruce and Jan! And i've been wondering about Billy too. He was supposed to send me an SASE for white flower seeds for his wife and he never did. He did mention something about hoping to get work out west somewhere, so maybe that's what happened. I miss him too - he was good fun!

Sounds like you are doing everything right. That makes it even more perplexing. Yes....there is always next year!

Did you get that rain dump early this morning? We got 1.29 inches. And we have hay down....didn't get it up yesterday cuz the baler crapped out for the umpteenth time. I am ready to throw in the towel on haymaking this year.
Jan

Hi Marcia,

Well from what you said in your first post......about the crust forming on your garden...I just wonder if when you moved the soil over if some clay ended up on the surface.
Another thing that comes to mind is...you mentioned that you add ammendments every year....maybe you need to add a lot more than what you have been adding. Perhaps just a complete over hauling will do the trick.....a good dump of compost, manure, peat, or mushroom manure...or even some of each for a good mix...what ever is available.....I mean a 6 to 12 inches and till or dig in. Give it a good mixing. For root crops I add a little bone meal and mix in...then plant. That seems to work good for me.

My veggie beds are all raised beds, I water with soaker hoses...that way the water isn't wasted...it seeps right into the ground. Of course lately I haven't had to use them at all.

I know how frustrating gardening can be.....mine got wiped out pretty bad last week with that hail storm. If all else fails.....do the grow dance around and around and around....at least twice a day. :-) It really does work..:-)) or well at least it keeps the neighbours away..haha

Sierra
PS. I see your computer is being fixed so you probably won't see this till next week.

I just remembered this thread and had to go all the way to Page 3 to find it! LOL Do we yack a lot here or what? :)

Dh and i have talked about this and he agrees that some of the clay might be closer to the top now and forming a crust. I bought some stuff for a foliar spray but just haven't gotten around to doing it yet (typical!). We've decided to till deeply this fall, add compost, and till again in the spring. We'll also bring in more of the peaty black earth from our property north of here.

Things are looking a little better out there. The pumpkins have started growing, and so have the beans. The cole crops are still stagnant. We've had a couple of feeds of chard and could probably eat beets too. Dh's potatoes are not great either, but the onions he planted in the same garden are coming along.

Grow dance, Sierra! Same one i was doing around my winter sowing? LOLOL Too bad my son is our neighbour - he already knows i'm nuts!

Marcia, I second the clay and/or subsoil incorporation as the problem. When you mentioned a backhoe, it really sent shivers up my spine. When you dig, how can you be expected to see where the good soil ends and the clay and/or subsoil begins? Take a good pH test too, as I am sure Lori can verify, subsoils often possess radically different pH's than the surface horizon.

I had a similar problem when I moved into this house 13 years ago. From what the prior owners had left in the veg. garden (I moved in the fall), It seemed to be good soil. But when I dug the next spring, there was only 4 inches of black dirt. They sure must have used a lot of Miracle-Gro!

I knew turning over the solid clay below would cause problems, but I decided to risk it. For the next two seasons, I grew nothing but cover crops, and add any and every organic material I could find. Those first cover crops grew very poorly, but incrementally did better with time.

Rick

Rick, i think you're right about that. I don't remember noticing that he had dug up much clay, but it's a possibility. However, there was no way either of us were going to dig out the whole garden by hand and wheelbarrow it over to the new spot! LOL So i guess we're paying the price for that. I do know that there's more than 4" of decent soil, though! We have a rear tine tiller and it does a really good job.

I'm hoping that the steps we'll take this fall and next spring will do the trick. And i will do a pH test.

Thanks, everyone, for all your comments and suggestions! :)