Small garden plants, high yield

[Futuregreenefarm]

I have a small garden with small plants. They won't grow. My tomato plants have no height. My squash look like little house plants, not big bushes. Same with my pickling cucumbers. The only plant I have that seems to grow is long cucs that are finally trailing. BUT, all the plants have blooms everywhere! The short tomato plants are sagging with green tomatoes. You can hardly see the squash plants for blooms and baby squash but they won't get big. The little tiny pickling cuc plant will have 5 to 8 baby cucs on one line that's barely 6 inches long. My pepper plants have lots of baby peppers but no height at all. I feel like the small plants will not sustain the babies to completion. Used 10/10 fertilizer when planted and water with miracle grow every couple of weeks.
Anyone have any suggestions for me?

 

[Acre4Me]

Any pics you can share?

Have you grown these things in previous years with better success? If so, what is different this year in your garden process ? This could be different compost, different manure, different seed source, new dirt, new garden area, etc.

It is common to get larger produce by removing some of the flowers or small fruit from plants/trees.

 

[Acre4Me]

@Futuregreenefarm some of these gardeners might want to chime in.

@WthrLady (NE)
@BirdsBeesTrees (IA)
@TJAnonymous (AR)
@karenerwin (MO)
@CluckNDoodle (GA)

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

@Acre4Me covered the important questions.
My husband and I bought a bunch of bags of topsoil this year, white with a red letters and a tree picture on it. They are selling this topsoil everywhere and it's the only kind around. It's complete mulch! It's junk ground up and it has no nutrients whatsoever.
We had to mix in some real dirt because nothing could grow. The mulch is treated with an oily substance and the water doesn't absorb. If you put your finger in it it's bone dry, so you think the water is standing that it has enough water but it doesn't.
I'm glad we caught this before it ruined everything.

 

[WthrLady]

I have a small garden with small plants. They won't grow. My tomato plants have no height. My squash look like little house plants, not big bushes. Same with my pickling cucumbers. The only plant I have that seems to grow is long cucs that are finally trailing. BUT, all the plants have blooms everywhere! The short tomato plants are sagging with green tomatoes. You can hardly see the squash plants for blooms and baby squash but they won't get big. The little tiny pickling cuc plant will have 5 to 8 baby cucs on one line that's barely 6 inches long. My pepper plants have lots of baby peppers but no height at all. I feel like the small plants will not sustain the babies to completion. Used 10/10 fertilizer when planted and water with miracle grow every couple of weeks.
Anyone have any suggestions for me?

Is it a container garden?? Plants that have constricted roots are stunted plants, this can also be true of soil that is too compact.
Stop using MGrow. It is too high in nitrogen with is not what you want in any plant past its initial growth spurt and root set. Once they start to bloom, either ornamental plants or fruiting plants, switch over to a feed higher in phosphorus, and if you are going to feed every week, feed it half strength only.

I recommend Schutlz liquid feed products. I use the orange lidded/label bottle from first true leaves until blooms, then switch over to the green lid/labeled one. And again I use HALF strength as called for on the label and treat once a week.

 

[karenerwin]

I agree that it could be a compaction problem. I’m having the same issue this year and I believe it is because my grandkids put so many leaves in my garden last fall that they couldn’t compost. I added dirt on top and tried to dig down past the leaves when I planted my veggies this year but I’m having a lot of the problems that you mentioned and I’m pretty sure it’s because I really didn’t get past all those leaves and so the roots aren’t reaching enough dirt and aren’t spreading and getting the nutrients they need. A couple of plants ( same variety ) are doing great and those are the ones that I think made it past all the leaves when I pla

 

[karenerwin]

@Futuregreenefarm do your plants look like any of these pictures?

 

[Futuregreenefarm]

Hello everyone. Thank you for your responses. Didn't mean to ghost anyone, just getting thru July 4th. I read all the suggestions and after talking with Husband, we think it may be a compaction problem. It isn't a container garden, in the ground, but a completely new spot. And I am pretty new to gardening. We didn't have access to a plow at the time. We used a box blade to scrape the grass away and then used forks on a tractor to rake through the dirt.

 If we get a cultivating tool, could I go around the plants and try to break up the ground more? I am also looking for the suggested liquid feed products as well.

And we purchased and used the same top soil. So should we rake that away from the plants also so the roots are getting more water around them?

 I have an old phone so no pics are available. Sorry about that. They don't really look like the pics that were provided though. Just short and won't run out except 1 or 2 cucumber plants.

Do you think I can salvage the current plants with cultivation and better fertilizer?

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Hello everyone. Thank you for your responses. Didn't mean to ghost anyone, just getting thru July 4th. I read all the suggestions and after talking with Husband, we think it may be a compaction problem. It isn't a container garden, in the ground, but a completely new spot. And I am pretty new to gardening. We didn't have access to a plow at the time. We used a box blade to scrape the grass away and then used forks on a tractor to rake through the dirt.

 If we get a cultivating tool, could I go around the plants and try to break up the ground more? I am also looking for the suggested liquid feed products as well.

And we purchased and used the same top soil. So should we rake that away from the plants also so the roots are getting more water around them?

 I have an old phone so no pics are available. Sorry about that. They don't really look like the pics that were provided though. Just short and won't run out except 1 or 2 cucumber plants.

Do you think I can salvage the current plants with cultivation and better fertilizer?

Yeah that topsoil is complete junk, I wish we never bought it. Live and learn.

 

[karenerwin]

@Futuregreenefarm i would say at this point you might as well try! But the cultivation tool. Scrap back the bad top soil. Try the better fertilizer. I don’t think you will hurt anything since nothing is growing that well.
If anything you could experiment. Leave one plant alone and cultivate, fertilize and scrap off bad top soil on the other plants and compare the results.
If you have the space you could start a small compost area and put in grass clippings, veggie scraps, leaves etc and use it next year to amend your soil