A Late Producing Garden - Ask Extension
Hello,I have been planting a square foot garden for the past 2 years. I usually plant peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, carrots, radishes, pole b...
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A Late Producing Garden #119737
Asked April 02, 2013, 4:27 PM EDT
Hello,
I have been planting a square foot garden for the past 2 years. I usually plant peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, carrots, radishes, pole beans, chard and a few herbs. I have used quality products and compost from Mel Bartholemew's company. My problem is my garden has not produced until August. Once August comes, my pole beans finally blossomed and started producing. Same with cucumbers. Other vegetables such as my carrots hardly grew at all, as well as my radishes. I bought my products from my neighbor who uses the same products and her garden is placed in the same position on the West side, getting the same amount of sun; however, her garden produces much earlier than mine. I water till thoroughly wet, but without runoff, about every other day.I even tried using garden fertilizer later in the season with little results. Would you be able to give me any helpful tips that might help my garden start growing in the spring? Thank you in advance!! Also, do you have any tips about using/avoiding use of herbicides/lawn products near the garden? Sincerely, Leslie
I have been planting a square foot garden for the past 2 years. I usually plant peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, carrots, radishes, pole beans, chard and a few herbs. I have used quality products and compost from Mel Bartholemew's company. My problem is my garden has not produced until August. Once August comes, my pole beans finally blossomed and started producing. Same with cucumbers. Other vegetables such as my carrots hardly grew at all, as well as my radishes. I bought my products from my neighbor who uses the same products and her garden is placed in the same position on the West side, getting the same amount of sun; however, her garden produces much earlier than mine. I water till thoroughly wet, but without runoff, about every other day.I even tried using garden fertilizer later in the season with little results. Would you be able to give me any helpful tips that might help my garden start growing in the spring? Thank you in advance!! Also, do you have any tips about using/avoiding use of herbicides/lawn products near the garden? Sincerely, Leslie
Utah County Utah
Expert Response
Hi Leslie;
You didn't say anything about when you are planting your garden. Here are a couple of things to try.
1) Are you planting your cool season vegetables early enough in the spring. Normally in Utah County, you should start seeding beets, carrots, chard, and radishes in late March to mid-April. Planting later may cause them to germinate faster but the plants have to grow when it is getting much hotter and these vegetable don't tolerate the heat well.
2) For the warm weather crops, you should seed or transplant these in May. There is a good publication on vegetable planting dates for the Wasatch Front that you can access at the USU Extension Publication website.
http://extension.usu.edu/davis/htm/horticulture/vegetable-planting-times/
Look that over and see if it helps.
3) To get things going a bit faster in spring, you may want to use some row covers or low plastic tunnels over the beds. This helps heat things up but here is a word of caution. If you use plastic covered tunnels, you need to watch that they don't get too hot. Ventilation is key and even on colder days, if the sun is out, the tunnels may need to be vented.
4) Do you know if there is enough nutrients in the soil? If your not sure, you can get your soil tested for nutrient levels. Continually adding nutrients may be a problem. Most nutrients we add have salts associated with them and salty soils affect the way plants grow. So a soil test can help a lot. Your local extension educator in Provo can help you get the soil tested and help interpret what the test shows.
5) Varieties of vegetables may have different maturity periods so if you are growing something later maturing than your neighbor, your harvest will not be at the same time. For instance, if your neighbor has bush bean and you grow pole bean, they may and often do mature at different times. It is not easy to compare across the fence and say that your neighbor is earlier than mine.
6) If you have a lawn service that is caring for your grass, ask that person about what herbicides are being used and if they are safe around vegetables. Not all are and you need to be careful. Also, if the grass clippings are being used as mulch in your vegetable beds, you may be bring in herbicides that hurt the veggies. If you are treating the lawn, are you applying the correct dose of chemical? Once again, talk to your local extension person in Utah County. They can help.
Good Luck this year and I hope this helps some.
You didn't say anything about when you are planting your garden. Here are a couple of things to try.
1) Are you planting your cool season vegetables early enough in the spring. Normally in Utah County, you should start seeding beets, carrots, chard, and radishes in late March to mid-April. Planting later may cause them to germinate faster but the plants have to grow when it is getting much hotter and these vegetable don't tolerate the heat well.
2) For the warm weather crops, you should seed or transplant these in May. There is a good publication on vegetable planting dates for the Wasatch Front that you can access at the USU Extension Publication website.
http://extension.usu.edu/davis/htm/horticulture/vegetable-planting-times/
Look that over and see if it helps.
3) To get things going a bit faster in spring, you may want to use some row covers or low plastic tunnels over the beds. This helps heat things up but here is a word of caution. If you use plastic covered tunnels, you need to watch that they don't get too hot. Ventilation is key and even on colder days, if the sun is out, the tunnels may need to be vented.
4) Do you know if there is enough nutrients in the soil? If your not sure, you can get your soil tested for nutrient levels. Continually adding nutrients may be a problem. Most nutrients we add have salts associated with them and salty soils affect the way plants grow. So a soil test can help a lot. Your local extension educator in Provo can help you get the soil tested and help interpret what the test shows.
5) Varieties of vegetables may have different maturity periods so if you are growing something later maturing than your neighbor, your harvest will not be at the same time. For instance, if your neighbor has bush bean and you grow pole bean, they may and often do mature at different times. It is not easy to compare across the fence and say that your neighbor is earlier than mine.
6) If you have a lawn service that is caring for your grass, ask that person about what herbicides are being used and if they are safe around vegetables. Not all are and you need to be careful. Also, if the grass clippings are being used as mulch in your vegetable beds, you may be bring in herbicides that hurt the veggies. If you are treating the lawn, are you applying the correct dose of chemical? Once again, talk to your local extension person in Utah County. They can help.
Good Luck this year and I hope this helps some.
Daniel,
Thanks so much for your help! I will look into each of your suggestions to help solve my garden problems. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!
Leslie
Thanks so much for your help! I will look into each of your suggestions to help solve my garden problems. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!
Leslie
Dear Daniel,
Hello again! I had one more follow up question about my garden. We used to have a dog who used the area under my square foot garden as her "potty area". She is no longer with us as of about 3 years ago. I am wondering if you know how that could effect my slow-growing garden (that produces some vegetables late and also others don't produce at all). Just an answer to one of your questions, I planted mid to late May last year. I plan to plant end of April and beginning of May this year. I'm wondering if I need to move my garden and start with fresh Mel's mix/ compost, in case the soil has been tainted from the soil underneath.
Hello again! I had one more follow up question about my garden. We used to have a dog who used the area under my square foot garden as her "potty area". She is no longer with us as of about 3 years ago. I am wondering if you know how that could effect my slow-growing garden (that produces some vegetables late and also others don't produce at all). Just an answer to one of your questions, I planted mid to late May last year. I plan to plant end of April and beginning of May this year. I'm wondering if I need to move my garden and start with fresh Mel's mix/ compost, in case the soil has been tainted from the soil underneath.
This last responce was sent as a comment and not a response. Here is the resposne.
Daniel D.
Hi Leslie;
You didn't say anything about when you are planting your garden. Here are a couple of things to try.
1) Are you planting your cool season vegetables early enough in the spring. Normally in Utah County, you should start seeding beets, carrots, chard, and radishes in late March to mid-April. Planting later may cause them to germinate faster but the plants have to grow when it is getting much hotter and these vegetable don't tolerate the heat well.
2) For the warm weather crops, you should seed or transplant these in May. There is a good publication on vegetable planting dates for the Wasatch Front that you can access at the USU Extension Publication website.
http://extension.usu.edu/davis/htm/horticulture/vegetable-planting-times/
Look that over and see if it helps.
3) To get things going a bit faster in spring, you may want to use some row covers or low plastic tunnels over the beds. This helps heat things up but here is a word of caution. If you use plastic covered tunnels, you need to watch that they don't get too hot. Ventilation is key and even on colder days, if the sun is out, the tunnels may need to be vented.
4) Do you know if there is enough nutrients in the soil? If your not sure, you can get your soil tested for nutrient levels. Continually adding nutrients may be a problem. Most nutrients we add have salts associated with them and salty soils affect the way plants grow. So a soil test can help a lot. Your local extension educator in Provo can help you get the soil tested and help interpret what the test shows.
5) Varieties of vegetables may have different maturity periods so if you are growing something later maturing than your neighbor, your harvest will not be at the same time. For instance, if your neighbor has bush bean and you grow pole bean, they may and often do mature at different times. It is not easy to compare across the fence and say that your neighbor is earlier than mine.
6) If you have a lawn service that is caring for your grass, ask that person about what herbicides are being used and if they are safe around vegetables. Not all are and you need to be careful. Also, if the grass clippings are being used as mulch in your vegetable beds, you may be bring in herbicides that hurt the veggies. If you are treating the lawn, are you applying the correct dose of chemical? Once again, talk to your local extension person in Utah County. They can help.
Good Luck this year and I hope this helps some.
You didn't say anything about when you are planting your garden. Here are a couple of things to try.
1) Are you planting your cool season vegetables early enough in the spring. Normally in Utah County, you should start seeding beets, carrots, chard, and radishes in late March to mid-April. Planting later may cause them to germinate faster but the plants have to grow when it is getting much hotter and these vegetable don't tolerate the heat well.
2) For the warm weather crops, you should seed or transplant these in May. There is a good publication on vegetable planting dates for the Wasatch Front that you can access at the USU Extension Publication website.
http://extension.usu.edu/davis/htm/horticulture/vegetable-planting-times/
Look that over and see if it helps.
3) To get things going a bit faster in spring, you may want to use some row covers or low plastic tunnels over the beds. This helps heat things up but here is a word of caution. If you use plastic covered tunnels, you need to watch that they don't get too hot. Ventilation is key and even on colder days, if the sun is out, the tunnels may need to be vented.
4) Do you know if there is enough nutrients in the soil? If your not sure, you can get your soil tested for nutrient levels. Continually adding nutrients may be a problem. Most nutrients we add have salts associated with them and salty soils affect the way plants grow. So a soil test can help a lot. Your local extension educator in Provo can help you get the soil tested and help interpret what the test shows.
5) Varieties of vegetables may have different maturity periods so if you are growing something later maturing than your neighbor, your harvest will not be at the same time. For instance, if your neighbor has bush bean and you grow pole bean, they may and often do mature at different times. It is not easy to compare across the fence and say that your neighbor is earlier than mine.
6) If you have a lawn service that is caring for your grass, ask that person about what herbicides are being used and if they are safe around vegetables. Not all are and you need to be careful. Also, if the grass clippings are being used as mulch in your vegetable beds, you may be bring in herbicides that hurt the veggies. If you are treating the lawn, are you applying the correct dose of chemical? Once again, talk to your local extension person in Utah County. They can help.
Good Luck this year and I hope this helps some.
Daniel D.