I'm a beginner & have questions.

[sepaditty1]

I didn't even know there was a gardening thread. Yay!

This is my first try. I got kind of a late start so I bought plants instead of seeds. I got my ground tilled while it was still kind of wet so it dried into a lot of hard clumps. I broke it up the best I could, but I don't know if it was enough.

I put in tomato plants which took off like wildfire. A watermelon plant that's doing fine. But my peas seem very frail. And my zucchini plants are getting yellow on the lower leaves.

Is this from the clumpy soil? Is it lack of nutrition?

Here is the zucchini:

Here are the peas:

What do you think?

 

[lazy gardener]

Did you use any fertilizer or chicken poo? The yellow leaves could be from too much nitrogen, or not enough nitrogen, or just b/c the plants are transplants. IMO, cucurbits (cukes, melon, squash) do better planted directly in the garden from seed. They take quite a set back when you do transplants, especially if they have any size on them when you buy them. Were the peas planted as seeds or as transplants? Same thing: peas can't stand having their roots disturbed.

 

[sepaditty1]

Ok. They were all transplanted as plants. Some chicken poo in with the zucchini bed. None with the peas. Any way I can help them along?

 

[lazy gardener]

Tincture of time. You might want to pick up some packets of seeds to plant alongside the seedlings if you have the space. You might find that the seeds you plant actually bear as soon as the transplants, and they will bear much more prolifically.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I agree, they probably got shocked. I started a ton of cukes, honey dew, cantaloupe, squash and zucchini in a tray. When I moved them to their spot in the garden, they looked horrible for a few days (and I lost a few). I just watered them well and crossed my fingers. They're doing fine now, thankfully, but the ones I direct sowed to replace what was lost are already bigger than the ones I started in trays, lesson learned

 

[sepaditty1]

Well that's good to know. I thought it was too late to start from seeds. But I have some, so it won't hurt to try.