Help! First time gardener...

[PhoenixMommaToTwo]

I planted my first garden a couple of weeks ago. Yay! But, a lot of it is dying now. We live in Nebraska and it's just been really windy, rainy and chilly the past few weeks. Go figure, it was in the 90's when we planted. I have some doing really well, my broccoli, cabbage, radishes, celery, strawberries, and eggplant are all doing awesome. But, my tomatoes are wilted and yellow, some are just altogether gone. My pumpkins look horrible! Is there any way to save them??

[JamieCatheryn]

My tomatoes looked that way my first year, the roots need to be well developed and they need lots of nutrients and even watering. Here are some things I've learned that improve them:

Deeply loosened soil with lots of organic matter like compost or aged manure.

Add bone meal for calcium and root development.

Add organic high nitrogen fertilizer like fish emulsion.

When you transplant, bury it deep, cover half or more of what was above ground stem it will turn into root.

Mulch by the time it gets hot and dry out.

I've had years when squash plants were pretty pathetic and another time vine borers got in and ate rot looking holes in the vines killing them completely. I'm not quite sure how to improve them but I'd love to learn.

[PhoenixMommaToTwo]

We mixed in some fertilizer when we tilled, but we haven't done the compost thing, yet. We will. We've grown tomatoes in containers just about every year and they've done awesome. This is the first year we've had them in the ground and they just are sucking. I was thinking about turning our ducks and chickens loose in the garden, at least for a day, but all of our plants are still seedlings and I don't want them to disturb them.

[Chamomile Girl]

Are your tomatoes small enough that you can fashion a cloche-type covering for them (or a cold frame) until it warms up a bit?  I usually use recycled starbucks cold cups while stuff is still in the seeding stage, both for the warmth they provide and the pest protection. 

The one year I gardened in Nebraska (Omaha area) we planted our tomatoes super-late (because we moved there in June) and they did fabulously.  We were able to still get a full harvest before the first frost even though we planted so late.  So if the tomatoes look like they are not going to make it see if you can find some established plants at a nursery (we got ours on closeout at Whole Foods) and throw 'em in the ground.

Good luck!

ETA:  I love your signature

[PhoenixMommaToTwo]

They are still pretty small. It's around 60 degrees out, on average. Is that too cold for tomatoes? I'll look for something, umm, maybe milk jugs? I think we planted the others in containers pretty late too and they did great. I've heard that others around us have planted cucumbers and they haven't done well, either. It's actually unusally cool for this time of year. Thank you about the signature  It's one of my favorite quotes.

[Wolfcat]

Originally Posted by PhoenixMommaToTwo 

I planted my first garden a couple of weeks ago. Yay! But, a lot of it is dying now. We live in Nebraska and it's just been really windy, rainy and chilly the past few weeks. Go figure, it was in the 90's when we planted. I have some doing really well, my broccoli, cabbage, radishes, celery, strawberries, and eggplant are all doing awesome. But, my tomatoes are wilted and yellow, some are just altogether gone. My pumpkins look horrible! Is there any way to save them??

Hey, mid-Nebraska here... we are still planting, but like you, I think the tomatoes gave up and left the building. :(

Oh, well, we have more seeds. See if you can't get an established plant from a nursery. I've never had any luck with any from seeds around here. And I just don't have time to coddle them like they need.

[PhoenixMommaToTwo]

Originally Posted by Wolfcat 

Hey, mid-Nebraska here... we are still planting, but like you, I think the tomatoes gave up and left the building. :(

Oh, well, we have more seeds. See if you can't get an established plant from a nursery. I've never had any luck with any from seeds around here. And I just don't have time to coddle them like they need.

Hi!! I'm actually thinking the tomatoes are coming back, at least a few, BUT, we're about to get hit with hail and wind and nasty weather again. Ugh! I'm definitely going to have to replace my cucumbers, melons and squash, and we bought those as established plants. Totally stinks. But, now we have corn, radishes, spinach, and carrots coming up. It's totally exciting. I hope your garden made it through this last bit of weather and you all did too. There was some tornado activity.