Wolverine247 Board

We have a few family members and neighbors who do a very good job maintaining their gardens down here in SC. Unfortunately, with high temps and little rain this year, crops have been harder to maintain than before. Some things we play around with are basically the things you've mentioned. Cucumbers, tomatoes and jalapenos. Next year I'm going to start early and maybe pick the brains of some family who have been doing this for awhile. They grow all kind of stuff from corn to watermelon to lettuce to potatoes, so by this time next year I might have some decent info. I initially started mine to get the little ones involved in something family oriented and familiarize the kids with nature/vegetables so I'm far from a green thumb.

I don't really have any tips, but I do know some neighbors who have started a compost pile for next years fertilizer already. Not sure if you have the room or time, but they throw anything from grass clippings to left over food. Anything and everything goes into it. Something to try for cucumbers...build a box, maybe a foot deep, put fence around the inside and intertwined the cucumber vines up and through the fence. Just prior to a storm or rain, toss some type of miracle grow/fertilizer around the plants (I would have to find out the exact name of the product from my family). It produces some of the biggest crops I've seen grown by an average Joe ever.

Sounds like you're doing just fine...hopefully it continues until winter.

I live in Dearborn. I have almost the same exact spread but the soil in my neighborhood may as well be clay. This has been a tough year. Also, we have a big fat rabbit prowling around the hood.

Best tip I have is when I have waste from veggies or fruits, ie peels, cores, seeds, stems, etc...instead of disposing of these bury them in your garden. The nutrients feed into the roots. Also, when the season is over and you pull the plants, do the same. Bury them all in the garden so that they become natural nutrients to the soil.

You need to be careful doing that with tomatoes. If they have gotten blight throw them out or else it will destroy your plants next year too.

Hey, gardener from Southeast Virginia. We've got a small garden that we're working on. We've been planting for while now. We've planted tomatoes, bell peppers and sweet peppers, banana peppers, squash, cucumbers and bush beans. I could go on about how we prepped the garden and soil this year, but we are having avery slow year, production wise. Tomatoes are doing ok but we do have early blight. The plants have required constant attention and pruning to keep the plants producing. Peppers came out late. Squash produced nearly nothing and cucumbers are taking their time as well. It has been quite different from last year and I have spent quite a bit more time feeding and caring this year with little to no return. I'm getting quite frustrated. Im sure the blight has something to do with it. I also tried to keep the soil "clean" from blight spores and I removed all plants from last year and ensured they were destroyed and not placed in our compost pile. I have also been told that it takes like 4 years for blighted soil to turn over. Dont know about that but I do not want to wait four years to try again. Im not giving up though. Im learning through this process and hopefully, I can come out ahead next season.