If at first you dont succeed, try and try again…
Or at least somthing like that as the old saying goes.
This year (2020) was my first real attempt at having a garden in literally decades. I say real attempt because I actually put in some serious effort and time as opposed to last year when I just threw some seeds in a couple of makeshift beds, or the year prior when I planted some strawberries and a few tomatoes.
This year I dug out multiple beds, fenced the primary garden area off and planted tons of seeds, weeded and watered it all every day – and what do you think I got for all that time and effort?
A bunch of cucumbers – and that is about it.
They were delicious by the way – but hardly adequate compensation for all the trouble and time invested in the garden this year.
Initially, most of the plants came up – and it looked promising!
Then they all just kinda stalled about halfway through and refused to grow any more!
That was true for beans, tomatoes, eggplants, melons, cantaloupes, and many other things that just refused to grow beyond a certain point.
What I Think Went Wrong…
I believe there were a couple of issues.
One is that I think the seeds I obtained were not very good – but I can’t be certain about that just yet.
I intend to do a side by side comparison – and next spring I am going to source more seeds from the same supplier (Burpee) and from Walmart and from one other online source yet to be determined. Then I am going to plant them all right next to each other in the same beds at the same time and see what grows and what does not.
Whether it was me or the seeds – I will try to determine by experiment next season.
The next issue I believe was a factor is the fact that the soil has not been tilled – but only broken up by hand with a shovel and rakes. It may have been too compacted and has a lot of clay in it.
So next year I intend to rototill it all good and to also add in some good quality topsoil as I do that.
Other than those issues I have no idea what the malfunction was – if you do – then by all means please share your comments and your knowledge in the comments below!
So We Shall Try Again Next Spring
This winter I will do some more reading and researching – and in the spring I will plant another garden and see what happens.
One thing is for sure though. I will NOT quit. I am stubborn to a fault once I get something in my head and I am going to grow a garden!
Stay tuned…