Hello World! Welcome Friends! If you’ve dreamed of having a beautiful and prosperous vegetable garden, but can never seem to produce much more than a wimpy head of lettuce, it might not be your non-green thumb, but the land you’re gardening on. Don’t worry, you can still fix it!
If you’re trying to troubleshoot what is causing the problems within your vegetable garden then use the following tips below to see how to combat issues within your yard.
Too Much Shade
No matter how hard you work, you can not out-garden too much shade. Almost all vegetables, herbs, and fruits require a substantial amount of daily sunlight. Ideally, your vegetables should be getting early morning sun so that any dew that collected on them overnight has the chance to dry by the heat of the morning light.
Throughout the day, your veggies will need 6 to 8 hours of sunlight. If your yard is overly shady, you may need to consider tree removal to give your garden a chance to thrive.
Soil Minerals and Elements
Your plants will only grow into a thriving garden oasis if they receive appropriate levels of nutrients and minerals. If your soil has an abundance of nitrogen, you may have full, lush leafy plants, but not have blooming or fruiting plants.
While soil itself inevitably has some nutrients, certain soil types often lack various elements. Clay soil, for instance, is notoriously void of the right level of nutrients, so you’ll need to amend it with a lot of organic material.
Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium are the three main nutrients that your plants will feed on most heavily, but to know which other micro-nutrients are lacking, send in a soil sample to your local state cooperative office based on the list found here. These offices will analyze your soil sample in a lab and report back what your soil may be lacking.
Each state varies and has different requirements for how the soil is accepted, so be sure to reach out before sending them in. Once you have the data report back on what your soil needs, you can amend it more appropriately to encourage growth for your plants.
Weather
Unfortunately, you just can’t control the weather, regardless of how hard you try or how many times you check the weather forecast in a day. Instead, you may want to consider installing a hoop house for cooler months, or a greenhouse if you want to have a long-term option.
If the weather brings hot temperatures, certain vegetables will not produce pollen. Tomatoes, for example, won’t be able to set fruit or ripen existing fruits when the temps don’t dip below 75 at night. Other vegetables will bolt when they see more than a few days of 80 degrees in a row. Most lettuces and cold weather crops simply won’t put up a fight when it’s that warm.
Plan to grow hot weather crops in the heat of summer, and find alternatives for your cold weather options such as Malabar spinach instead of regular spinach, which prefers cooler temps. If you live in a place with harsh winters, do your research on the best tips for gardening in cold weather.
Gardening shouldn’t need to be stressful, so take these tips into consideration when planning your summer vegetable plot.
Click the links below for any posts you have missed:
How to Plan the Perfect Graduation Party
6 Hobbies that can Calm your Mind
Backyard Improvements That Will Rock Your World
Self-Isolation Boosts Wildlife
Breathing New Life Into your Home
An Interview with a Contractor
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Toodles,
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