What should I do about my leggy garden?

[Talula Fairie]

Like every other person in the world has tomato plants that look totally different than mine. And I just saw what my in law's squash plants look like, about 10 times the size of mine, and it's not that much older. My eggplant flowered then the flower fell off and NOTHING. Still not seeing any tomato buds either, just the flowers, which fall off. I'm beginning to realize that I maybe really DON'T have enough light. Or is there hope?

Should I just move my tall, spindly tomato plants to the front yard, where their ugly bucket containers will be an eyesore and there's always the risk of the tomatoes getting stolen, but where I might you know, actually GET some tomatoes? or is there hope.

I'm beginning to feel like everything I grow is just not going to produce. I just don't have the yard for it. I'm so frustrated! It feels like all this work and time and money and energy is going down the drain. HELP!!!!

[greengirl_]

Give it some time before you decide that you've thrown all of your energy & money down the drain. Your veggies might start producing late, especially if you move them to where they can get a lot of sun. And if not, use it as a learning experience, you may want to try your garden in a different spot next year or use different additives in the soil, or try different crops. Good luck, I know it can be so completely frustrating to see other's gardens doing really well and to have yours not do well at all. I'm sure they all have lots of years of gardening experience under their belts, or maybe they're just lucky!

[Talula Fairie]

That's true, I don't have a lot of experience.

I moved my containers to the front yard where hopefully they will do better, I think it gets about 8-9 hours of full sun instead of 7 hours of dappled sun. I am fairly certain it's just the sun issue.

My raised bed I can't move, I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope.

[Snapdragon]

what is your soil like? IF you haven't already you might want to but some bags of good garden soil to mix into your already existing soil. Soil is key for successful gardens.

[Talula Fairie]

Originally Posted by Katie34

what is your soil like? IF you haven't already you might want to but some bags of good garden soil to mix into your already existing soil. Soil is key for successful gardens.

It's not the soil. I have raised beds with super nice soil in them (the kind with compost, worm castings, the works). The rest are in pots. They have a mix of organic potting soil and compost. It's not watering, it's not nutrients, it's not anything but the fact that they don't get full sun.

And now I have realized that the front of my house doesn't get full sun either. It does get a few hours of straight sun with no dappled light, though. But I think it's only like 5 hours like that Not sure if that's any better than the 7 hours of dappled light the back of my house has. I just want to cry. I'm never going to have a really good garden here. *sigh*

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by Talula Fairie

And now I have realized that the front of my house doesn't get full sun either. It does get a few hours of straight sun with no dappled light, though. But I think it's only like 5 hours like that Not sure if that's any better than the 7 hours of dappled light the back of my house has. I just want to cry. I'm never going to have a really good garden here. *sigh*

If this is your first year, then be happy if you get 1 or 2 tomatoes to eat. Really. It took me YEARS and having a green-thumb roommate to get edibles to grow properly, and there are still some things I fail miserably at (like lettuces) that other people grow without trouble. Never depend upon your garden for your produce until it's proven itself. For now consider it a learning experience and good practice, and anything you can harvest is a bonus.

But yes, 5 solid hours of sun IS better than 7 hours of partial sun. You have the heat, you just need to work on the sun. That may mean thinning out a tree, relocating the pots, finding spots that get more sun than others, picking different breeds that don't need full sun, etc. It takes some trial and error. For us, the only place I get enough sun to grow anything is on a patio that's 6 feet off the ground - although I've contemplated putting my garden on the roof, since that gets full sun all day long. So I grow my tomatoes on the patio and resign myself to having a small garden for now. But I can only grow during the summer - my fall/winter crops just don't get enough sun because of the polar tilt, even though they're in the same spot as my summer crops.

My entire backyard is going to get paved - not even grass will grow in the little bit of sun it gets, and I'll just have to plant shade-lovers back there. And when we redo the patio, we'll put in boxes so I can have more garden space without taking up the entire patio.



And if you want a guaranteed crop of something, get yourself a good-sized pot and a 4" start of mint. It's very difficult to kill, and where you are it should live year-round (I know mine does if I remember to water it during the winter), and each year it will get even bigger (just don't put the pot on the earth - put it on concrete or a patio).

[Talula Fairie]

I have mint. My kids just pulled almost all of it out

If I got like 2 tomatoes out of 8 plants, I will still be a little bummed. Yeah, I'm not expecting miracles and yeah, it's a learning experience but it would still suck to spend $100+ on your garden to get 1-2 tomatoes. I'm not at all depending on it to feed my family, I'd never do that, but some crop would be nice, yakno?

Cannot thin the trees, we do not own this house. We live in a housing complex and for the landscaping, what you get is what you get.

I think actually where I have moved my containers it gets sun from 9am to 4pm, more or less. So that's a decent chunk I guess. I hope it helps. I am concerned though, that it's in an area that is supposed to be lawn (it's on a bald spot just next to my driveway), that it's going to get overwatered by the sprinklers.

[skueppers]

It's not that you can't grow vegetables back there -- you just need crops that thrive in less sun. Things like greens, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, peas, and herbs should do fine. All of the plants you mentioned (tomatoes, eggplant, squash) require full sun.

You may be able to find a place in the front yard to put food plants, too. If you have flowerbeds, try planting peppers and eggplant along with the flowers.

You also might want to look into community gardening. I have no useful sun at my house, but my $25-a-year community garden plot is a whole 'nother story.

[Talula Fairie]

I've already tried almost all the plants that thrive in shade. And none of them worked out, really. Don't know what's up with that.