Well, something is clearly eating away at them. Are these pictures in the open ground or in a container? In either case take a look at them after dark and see if you can see the culprit at work. If it's a container also look underneath and in the drain holes.

Hard to tell, but it looks kinda dry as well. No way to judge from appearance what kind of soil mix you're using. Need a lot more info.

The plants are planted in the ground. With topsoil mixed with potting soil and all purpose soil. They were a little dry but i give then water every day.

Direct seeded tomatoes? That can be challenging. Temperature stress, pests on fragile stems, keeping extremely shallow roots properly moist.

Yes direct seeded. Actually i seeded at different place then i planted them here.

So not direct seeded then. Transplanted. But at a very early stage.

Yes

It does look like something is chewing on them. I'd guess slugs at night.

Transplants should be at least 4 weeks old before planting in their final spot. I prefer a week or 2 longer to get a bit more size and thicker stems. You might want to consider replacing them with purchased transplants if they don't rebound soon.

Yes, they we're too small to have been transplanted. It's also possible that it's too cold for them still, although we don't know where you're located, so that's just a guess. Easy prey for any passing pest.

Transplantation imposes lots of stresses on a plant. Doing that for a just-germinated and very fragile plant is not wise. What I'm seeing are just cotyledon leaves, or seed leaves, which are part of the seed embyro that store food for the developing plant. That's a delicate state in plant development, because those cotyledon leaves don't actually do much photosynthesis. These plants are just running on batteries. Not a good time to be stressed.

Now what should i do? Im a first time gardener and i started everything in a bed without the ground dug then i found out i need more dept for roots to grow then i started different place n transplanted them there. I live in houston texas and it gets pretty hot sometimes these days n most of the times raining nowadays.

If you do see slugs, get a slug killer/repellent - Sluggo usually works for us. You should be able to find it at any big box store or Walmart.

Well, first of all, if you live in Houston, you should have had your tomato plants out two months ago, after the last frost. My cherries are, right now, six feet tall, with green fruit. The reason is that here in the south, it's a race. Once it gets hot and humid, tomatoes won't self pollinate anymore, and the season is done. I get tomatoes in May and June. But not after that. So our tomato season really isn't very long, and you've got to get your plants matured before the heat and humidity set in. If I were you, I'd just scrap the tomatoes and plant something else. Or you could plant in July or August and try for a fall crop.

Of course, in the north, it's somewhat of a race too. But a different race. The race there is to get your tomatoes before the first freeze.

i dont know alot about plants. its my first time and im learning everything. my okra plant mustard plant cabbage and onions and spinach plants all of them are growing well also few of the tomatoes but not very well. so i dont know im giving water regularly.

so you are saying i wont get any tomatoes from those plants if they grow big?

Cut your losses and just purchase a few tomato starts at the nursery. Your current seedlings, even if they survive, will not be close to being old enough or large enough to produce any fruit before your weather puts the kaibosh to them.

Next season you will know to start your toms from seed early indoors and plant out as soon as warm weather permits.

Exactly. By the time they grow big, it will be too hot to get tomatoes out of them. Pretty foliage, and even flowers, but no tomatoes. If you purchase plants, they'd better be big, maybe even flowering. Not just starts. That's your only chance to get tomatoes in the next five months.

Ok so how big tomatoe plants should i buy?

Cut your losses. Don't throw good money after bad. Wait for the second crop season. Hey Dan, since you are a TX gardener, can one start them mid summer indoors with AC and then put out late for the second crop? I'm a 6a zone gal, so my race is just to get max fruit one time, before frost kill. I did not realize that toms would not like hot summer weather. Here we have the opposite problem, if late summer is chilly or too wet, will really put the kibosh on the tomato harvest. I did not realize that hot and dry, with irrigation, would be a problem for them, but maybe that's why my tomato crop was crap last year, it was hot and dry at the end of the season, although I watered adequately. They still sort of ended up looking fried and not "overwatered" fried either.

Naz, where are you located that you are staring tomato seeds in the garden?

You can start tomatoes anytime indoors, and you sure don't need a/c to do it. What would a/c accomplish? I don't do it, but some people here do a fall crop. Put the plants out in August, cross your fingers that the seedlings will survive in the heat, and wait for ripe tomatoes in November. Of course, then, you'll be wanting tomatoes to ripen when it's cool, which can be iffy. Plant out immediately after last frost (late Feb here) is the ticket here. Cool temps? Just ignore them. The tomatoes won't grow much when the weather is cool, but they won't be hurt. At that time, my soil temps are 50F. Endurable.

Yes, I'm here in the warm south and, functionally, my tomato season isn't any longer than yours in the north. Kinda sucks, no?

Naz is in Houston. That was said above.

"I live in houston texas and it gets pretty hot sometimes these days n most of the times raining nowadays."

Houston Texas

Yeah

I live near Beaumont, about 2 hours Northeast of you. If you want to plant tomatoes for a fall garden, the transplants need to be put in the ground between July 15 and August 1st. The problem is no one seems to sell transplants at that time. They wait and sell them in September, when there is not enough time to ripen a crop.

You could start your own from seed about June 15 and have your own transplants by mid to late July.

Honestly, if I were you, I would wait till next year and try to get transplant in the ground by March. You may have to cover them with a 5 gallon bucket if temperatures get
below 38 degrees, but you will only have to do that a couple of times at
most.

My tomatoes are about 4 feet tall, loaded with tomatoes and still blooming. But by about July 1st they will be toast.

By the way, smaller cherry type tomatoes are easier to grow down here than the big beefsteak type tomatoes.

Yes thank you so much. I will try to put the seeds inside in small cups in June then transplant them when they are little big enough. But for right now im just concerned about my other veggies.

The okra leaves are turning white and have few zigzag lines in them. I dont what happened to them now. Also the mustard plants leaves are also turning yellow. Whats going on if somebody can help me with that?

I have made so much effect into making this long bed and now im not growing any crop good so sad 😭😭.

Is it possible you are overwatering? You mentioned that you were watering every day and that it has been raining a lot. Your garden probably needs 1-2 inches of water a week total. I would apply some sort of mulch either leaves, dried grass clippings, straw, newspaper, whatever you have and then water less frequently. You can pick up a rain gauge for pretty cheap and judge how much to water based on your weekly rainfall.

Okra leaves turning white? I'd have to guess powdery mildew if mostly on the upper sides of leaves in flour dust-like white spots. A high-humidity affliction. Fungicide is the best answer, though you can try to wash it off.

Could the zigzag lines in the okra be leaf miners?

That's a good point. The squiggles made by leaf miners are usually kind of pale or white. So are we talking about flour-dust like patches of white or squiggles of white?

Here are the pics please let me know whats going on.

It was white yesterday now it turned like this. Also my mustards are turning yellow. Do i need to thin these and how many? Even onions turning yellow.

Ok, good and bad news. First, do not get discouraged. Everyone makes mistakes and gardening is hard at first, but gets easier once you learn the basics.

Bad news. Mustard and onions are cool season plants, they grow in late fall, through winter and during late spring they bolt (go to seed) and die. They are planted way to close but they are a lost cause since they were planted at the wrong time of year.

Good news, okra loves hot weather and should do just fine. Cut back on the watering. It is also drought tolerant. I would only water every 3 or 4 days at most, less if you get rain.

One thing that would also do well now is purple hull peas. They also like hot weather and are drought tolerant. You could plant now if you wanted.

In Texas we have 2 short growing season, early spring and fall. The fall planting will last through winter if they are cool season plants.

What you really need is a planting guide that tells what dates to plant different types of vegetables.

So what should i do now? Take the onions n mustards all out?? What about spinach? I have that planted as well but they are too close too.

I feel like all my effort has gone to waste only one veggie will grow and rest are not gonna grow. Actually, i was growing whatever we eat. I have also planted cabbage seeds are those winter or summer plants?

Spinach is cool season. Cabbage might make it, sometimes it will survive summer. Cabbage plants should be about 12 inches apart. If you like sweet peppers banana peppers are a long yellow pepper that grows well in the summer. You should be able to find transplant of it at a feed store. Hot peppers also do well. Bell peppers are a challenge. Will grow a small crop in early summer, survive the summer and begin producing in late fall.

JRN nursery in Houston has some spinach like plants that grow in the summer and are about $1.50 per plant. They are longevity spinach, Okinawa spinach, and malabar spinach. They are not true spinach but do very well in the summer heat.

I wish I was closer and were not under threat of virus. Gardening can be fun but many times when it is comfortable to be outside it may be late for planting.

Sweet potatoes will also grow in the summer, but grows some pretty long vines. Some people trellis them up. Might try to buy some slips and plant those about a foot apart in a row. It takes about 110 days to harvest, but some people also eat the leaves.

So I don't understand. I don't see any white on those leaves. I see yellow and brown. Where's the white??

Agree about spinach. No way will it grow in the Texas summer. Even the "New Zealand" spinach is only mildly heat tolerant. I grow the real tropical "spinach" (which are greens that are like spinach, but are horticulturally different). They LOVE heat. Malabar spinach. Sissoo (Brazilian) spinach. As noted, Okinawa is another. At least the latter two require some special care, however. No seeds. Cuttings only. You can get Malabar seeds by the bazillion, but they require some unusual handling.

Chard will put up with some heat. Cabbage, probably not. Peppers, you bet! Peppers love heat.

You really really need to look at that Texas A&M planting calendar and other info I pointed you to in the other thread. Seriously. That's what they're for. This thread - https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5898746/question-abt-raised-beds-compost-soil#n=70, way at the bottom. You thanked me for those links, but you didn't look at them?

daninthedirt, i did look at those links the calander is very clear to me but the guides on website im not understanding. it was saying about selecting a vegetable then it gives time to harvest but which one i have im not sure. also it gives so many veg names i dont even know what are the names. Also about few wordings i just dont understand like freeze and crown? i have to learn alot from these website.
the okra leaves were white a day before n today they were like this turning yellow. so im not sure what happened.

OK, well, it is clear from the calendar that spinach isn't something we in Texas plant in the spring for summer. Nor, for that matter, cabbage. You asked if cabbage was a winter or summer plant. That calendar tells you. Also from the calendar, bulbing onions should be planted in November, and being harvested now. For green onions, you can plant anytime.

You're not sure which vegetable you have? That certainly is a problem. If you don't recognize the name of a vegetable, it might not be smart to try to grow it. You said you grow whatever you eat.

The definition of "freeze" was made clearly.

• Light freeze: 29° to 32°F—tender plants are killed.
• Moderate freeze: 25° to 28°F—widely destructive to most vegetation.
• Severe freeze: 24°F and colder—heavy damage to most plants.

Not sure what "crown" was referring to.

Hard to say what's going on with your okra. Looks like you have one dying leaf on each plant. One would hope it isn't some fungal disease. I'd remove the affected leaves and throw them away. But okra should love summer heat.

I meant about the different types of vegetables the different names like the spinach you guys mentioned above. I just know the common regular names because one of the links where i was saying it asks me to select a veg and after that it pulls up different types of that one veg so i don’t know the difference and which one i have. I just know the regular ones spinach cabbage the ones we get from Heb and i thought i got those seeds. It also said just spinach.
I did look at the guides for real and im embarrassed because maybe im not understanding it clearly. But thank you so much for making it clear.

That's a good point. "Spinach" means LOTS of things. Many different varieties of spinach, and things that are *called* spinach that aren't really spinach, but rather just a spinach-like green. Those different kinds of "spinach" may thrive in VERY different conditions. Armenian cucumbers taste like cucumbers, but they're really melons. So what gives?

I guess the simple way to look at it is that in a simple seed selection, that you might find at the supermarket, what's in the seeds is pretty much what's on the shelves. You have to dig a little to find the more unconventional varieties.

Where do you learn about unconventional varieties and vegetable gardening techniques? One place is HERE. After years of looking at this forum, I've learned lots of new things, including amazing plant varieties that I had no clue existed. To the extent you have local gardening clubs, that would be another excellent source of info. A commonly neglected source of information is the gardener next door, who may have been doing vegetable gardening for years, with precisely the same weather conditions and precisely the kind of soil that you're faced with. Those "lessons learned" are priceless.

Here is a link to another vegetable planting guide that is in a different form that I like better. http://counties.agrilife.org/orange/files/2011/03/Vegetable-Planting-guide.pdf It is for Orange county that will work well for Harris county also.

Naz, seed can get expensive but if you need only need 5 or 6 seeds for small seeded varieties such at tomatoes or peppers, send me a private message with your address and I can send you some that are adapted to our area. I have many of tomato seeds. Your okra is looking good and should be ok. The first 2 leaves on a broadleaf plant will always die off pretty early. Same with the tomatoes. Those are not true leaves. The next set of leaves are true leaves and will be healthier.

Another source of information is Urban Harvest. They are located in Houston and have classes, plant sells, and farmers markets.

Gary thank you so much for the guide as well. Thank you for the seeds offer, seeds are not that expensive. I just want my plants to grow thats all. I need help in getting them planting and understanding the process how this gardening works. So far im understanding alot from here.