What do you grow but get bad results?

[Matt Mayer]

A take off of Sharon's recent question and something I'm curious about.

For me it's carrots and peas. I keep planting them and they keep sucking. Peas do OK, but space limitations seem to keep me from growing enough for a meal. Not to mention, all my instructions say that they don't need a trellis but then why the hell won't they stand up on their own?

Carrots are my worse thing though. Most of the time they grow fantastic tops, but no root. If they grow a root it's about 2 inches long. My first year of gardening I grew fantastic carrots. Since then, bumpkiss. I've been wondering if I need to loosen their beds up more? I don't know. Anyone have any ideas?

What do you grow but get bad results? But dang it, you keep on trying!

[Matt Mayer]

Complain loud enough and the net answers. Mother Earth News has an article about growing peas.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/Growing-Peas.aspx

[Sealander]

Yes, I have that problem with the peas also....generally I only manage to produce enough for snacks when I am gardening.
Brocolli.....goes to seed prematurely so all I get is a tiny head. Cauliflour is fine, but not brocolli. And onions...I can grow good leeks and garlic, but my onions generally don't get much past miniature pickling onion size. And spinach.....I've given up on that one and will stick to all the spinach substitutes that grow like weeds here.

[Matt Mayer]

I have the same problem with onions. I'm told it's because I use sets instead of starting with seeds. I'm starting with seeds this year so we'll see if that's true.

[Alison Kerr]

I've not done well with peas - they grow, but not enough to make it worthwhile.
Spinach never seems to germinate - I'm going to try soaking the seeds ahead of time.
Beans are even worse than peas - it gets hot here just as they seem ready to take-off.
Peppers have been about the same as beans.
My full-size tomatoes crack, or don't have enough flowers. I want to try mini ones this year.
My onions are small like others have mentioned.

Lettuce and radish I usually grow well enough to share with one or two others.
Carrots and beets I can do OK with, but no-one wanted to eat my beets so I quit growing them.

In the fall I grew mini pac choi and that was wonderful so I plan to put that in again this spring.

[greenmulberry]

I had great luck with snap peas last year. One little packet of seed made so many that I was just so sick of snap peas. We could eat them every night!

Mine were trellised though, my yard and garden is surrounded by woven wire fence, and I grew the up that.

My worst crop is summer squash/zucchini. I have squash vine borers very bad, and never get but a few zuccs.

[Gina]

Broccoli. Between the cabbage worms and the rats (we figured out that it was rats that ate all of our mature heads) it is a pest magnet. I also cannot get it to grow from seed for the life of me. I have tried four times at this point. We're going to keep persevering though. It is our favorite vegetable and I wouldn't feel that our garden is complete without it.

[kimlasusa]

My worst crops by far were the Zucchini and the Bell Peppers. I think I didn't give them enough room to grow receive enough sunlight. I kinda smooshed too many things into my smalle area. I'm going to skip the peppers and try again with the Zucchini. I really want to try carrots but am thinking of doing them in a container.

[Josh]

Might be a good idea to get a soil sample. Sometimes micro nutrients can be a bigger deal than the macros.
About the carrots and onions... I've had real good luck with mixing in leaf litter with my grass clippings for areas with our edible roots. The leaves tend to make the soil more porous and I think that helps alot. Just make sure not to add too much, or your nitrogen will get tied up with the organic matter.
With peas, I've always had better luck with a trellis. They might do okay without, but I prefer to use one.
Another thing I've always done is rotating where I plant crops in the bed. Corn and tomatoes follow beans, peas, and peppers. Those three in turn follow potatoes, carrots, beets, and onions. I tend to think that different types of plants use and replace different nutrients differently and rotating eases the burden on the soil. Just make sure to amend the soil properly. With sweet corn and tomatoes I make sure to use nothing but grass clippings and compost. In the winter, I use wood ashes to replace potassium and also to nuetralize our acidic soil, especially for peas and beans. Hope that helps!

[Shari]

Toamtoes!! I grow the most beautiful tomato plants ever, but...... Where's the fruit? By the time they produce, it's generally too late in the season and they never ripen. On our local University website they recommend using epsom salt to supplement the soil for tomatoes and peppers. So i'm trying it. Today is June 25th and I have my first tomato bloosoms which is earlier than ever before, so fingers crossed, we'll see!

[Jon Strode]

Onions are by far the biggest disappointment this season.Some rotting in the ground,others just don't have the size.Yet the neighbor down the road does just fine.All other veg doing just fine. Have to remember to stagger the plantings next year.Cucumbers coming out of my ears.

Jon
Wanderingwwoof.com

[Marian Royal-Vigil]

Tomatoes and eggplant! Every year they start off great and, no matter where I plant them or what I do, they get wilt or they produce blossoms that fall off without setting fruit. When I do get fruit, it's usually undersized. The one exception was the year I grew yellow pear tomatoes, which did beautifully and volunteered the following year.

[Jess]

I'm very disappointed with this summer's crops so far. Peas, peppers, squash and zucchini didn't even sprout despite three attempts and three different methods (starting early in pots on windowsill, starting later in pots on windowsill and direct in the ground in desparation.) Home-grown tomato plants are puny, the bought ones are good and strong but no sign of fruit yet. Oh well, this is only my second year so I'll keep trying and use a different seed company next time.