Aargh! Some years are like that! Glad that some things are doing well.I took a quick jaunt around the garden this evening. It is so hot and I was drenched in sweat after 10 minutes.
After a quick look around, I have mixed feelings about the garden this year. We are barely the first month in and I have so many ups and downs already.
1) Tomatoes - I have 6 active plants from 4 different varieties. Planted around 10 so I'm shooting at 60% right now. The Sweet 100 Cherry tomato is in a container and looking very sad. Half of it is yellow already. Probably going to replant it this weekend.
2) Corn - I planted 2 rows of 10. Only about 7 or 8 plants came up. Several have already fallen over or look very deformed even though they are only about a foot high. Cutworms? Nematodes? I'm not sure. I replanted seeds twice now and nothing is really sprouted. Not sure why.
3) Zucchini - planted somewhere around 5 - 7 plants from seeds. Only 1 sprouted.
4) Yellow squash - I had around 6 plants growing nicely until that late frost injured most of them. I replanted new starts with Straightneck squash. Most of it is thriving.
5) Broccoli - planted around 10 plants. Half from starts. Half from seed. I've never had much luck with broccoli but it is doing very well this year, except for the worms.
6) kohlrabi - I planted 5 purple kohlrabi from seed. Only 1 seems to SLOWLY growing. Replanted 6 - 8 more seeds of green kohlrabi. It is also growing very very slowly. Not sure if it will make it.
7) Onions - planted white, red, yellow from starts. Planted green onions from seed. None of the green onions sprouted but the seeds were old. Reseeded with a new packet. Literally ONE sprouted out of the entire packet. The other onions are doing great!
8) Blueberries - I have 7 blueberry bushes. All of them were doing GREAT until the past few weeks. Now all of them are chloritic and looking very bad. Two are massively losing leaves. I have added more sulphur to their beds. I have also tried a foliar spray with water and ironite. Not sure what else to do. Very worried about losing them!
8) Strawberries - I have several different strains going - Quinault, All Star, Ozark Beauty, Marshall, and Pineberries. They had a rough start and I thought I was going to lose them but they pulled through and are now producing the juiciest tastiest strawberries I've ever had in my life.
9) Plum tree - it bloomed beautifully and was doing great until I planted it. Too late I realized it had a canker infection. It is still sitting in my garden with zero leaves on it. Probably dead.
10) Peach trees - been battling fungus and pests with both of these too. I sprayed them with Bordeaux mix and then traded up to Captan. They seem to be rebounding.
11) Apple trees - the pink lady apple tree ended up with cedar apple rust all over it. The Granny Smith which is about 15 ft away had some cedar apple rust but not bad. I'm actively treating both trees vigorously with Captan, Bordeaux Mix and Neem oil.
12) Other stuff I've recently planted from seed that still hasn't sprouted - spaghetti squash, pumpkin, desert king watermelon, sunset runner beans, asparagus, and pickling cucumbers.
13) All this stuff I've planted and it's doing fantastic with no problems whatsoever - multiple different types of peppers, buttercrunch lettuce, New Zealand spinach, eggplant, salad greens, arugula, yacon, potatoes, Dill, sage, sunflowers, raspberries, garlic, and grapes.
With all of that, why do I feel like I am missing something? I feel like I should do more, plant more... Yet I don't think I have TIME for more battles/struggles. Gardening is frustrating when things fail and/or you don't know how to fix or save a dying plant. How many times I wish I could call a plant doctor to come assess and help my garden in the same way I call a vet for my animals!
