Here in TN, you can get cheap soil tests at the CO-OP's. Of course, you could send your soil to A&M for a complete soil test. This will tell gig what nutrients you need for what plants.

My soil is very shale-y, neutral pH, and has few nutrients.

Looks like cedar rust, a fungus. I don't think there's much you can do once it's visible. There are some fungicides to prevent it. That and remove any cedar trees on your property. Check with your extension agent.

6 inches of rain yesterday isn't going to help my so far perfect tomato crop. Happens every year in Houston though.

Sweet potatoes require a curing time after harvest. It is cumbersome.

Yeah I decided against sweet potatoes. Just planted everything. Went with okra and spinach, cucumber, basil, and mint. We'll see how this first time garden goes !

Transplanted my tomatoes, pepper, and broccoli today (in the north country). Snap peas and radish emerged a few days ago. Have celery plants yet to transplant and several seeds to go in. Expecting heavy rain tonight so holding off on the wimpy celery and seeding until we dry back out.

Raspberries are getting ready for their early season bloom and blackberries are just starting to green up again.

In the future, it's best to get a soil test in the fall. That gives you time to add etc and get it worked in and all settled before spring planting.
I'm lucky as heck. I don't ever have to really add anything.

Anyone know what's up with my pepper plants? These are jalapeno and banana peppers. Their growth has been curly for a while now. I'be seem wjere it's possible it could be calcium deficiency, irregular watering or insect induced.

How much do you water them? What type of soil?

And, wow, your stuff is really close together.

zooguy96 said:

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How much do you water them? What type of soil?

And, wow, your stuff is really close together.

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I've got drip irrigation (1gph) that waters every other day for an hour. Soil is a mix of mainly topsoil I purchased in bulk and different types of compost - cow manure, chicken manure, worm castings, spaghum peat moss.

And yeah, everything is especially crowded right now until I harvest the carrots and onions. Carrots should be about done for the most part. Onion may have another month or so to go.

Sounds like you may be watering too much, depending on how hot it is there. Even in the heat of the summer, I only water about every third day. Of course, I live in East Tennessee where it doesn't get incredibly warm.

zooguy96 said:

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Sounds like you may be watering too much, depending on how hot it is there. Even in the heat of the summer, I only water about every third day. Of course, I live in East Tennessee where it doesn't get incredibly warm.

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I'm in Midland. We're in the 90s most days already, and have had several over 100*. I figured with our heat and dry air I may need to water a little more. I can ease up a bit, see what happens.

This is off the tomato plant I didn't destroy that appeared to have a virus.

Streetfighter 02 said:

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This is off the tomato plant I didn't destroy that appeared to have a virus.

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Pretty weird. Perhaps it was several buds growing together? On the tomato that I thought may be diseased, they're doing fine. Another one of my tomato plants created this "super-flower", looks like 3 that grew together. I'm curious how the tomato turns out. This is a pic of it.

It may have been a super bloom but all the tomatoes on this plant have a brown, deformed ring where the petals were attached to the skin. I picked one and sliced it and the inside looked normal. The other of the same variety does not produce twin prolapse b-hole on super bloom fruits.

Does anyone know what's going on with my
Cocozelle squash? It's leaves are dying along the edges. I was thinking it was due to the sun exposure, but not sure. I now have a shade cloth up, so it's direct sunlight is limited. The leaves first turn this soft green color and are very soft, and then they dry up and die.

This one is currently going through it now


This one started out like the above, but as you can see it dried up along the edges.


I have a zucchini and yellow squash right next to it and they're fine.

Edit: I'm starting to think this is bacterial wilt.

This is a normal cat-faced tomato on the non-infected pant.

I've seen this asked above but I didn't see a reply. My bell peppers have curling leaves. It doesn't appear to be all the leaves on one plant, which I read would suggest a calcium deficiency. I don't see bugs but that doesn't mean they aren't there. I don't believe they are over watered. I don't water much and we've had some rains but the soil is a little dry even an inch down. Not too dry but not wet. I know peppers prefer drier soil. Just trying to figure out what's going on. I'm going to top dress the beds with leaf mold compost this weekend and hope that gives everything a boost.

Second try with another pic of the underside of the leaf.



I guess TexAgs doesn't like the one pic.

I can't tell if what I'm seeing. Under the leaves is bugs/ eggs or sand from soil splashing up on the bottom of the plants. I may try Sevin dust and see if that helps.

You might try a soil test. I think you've possibly burned them with N. Did you use chicken manure maybe? Your basil looks a little burned too. I'm not an expert by any means, so take this with a grain of salt, but I've seen tomatoes and peppers look similar after too much uncomposted (hot) chicken manure.

Kill it before it takes over the town!

I did soils tests in the spring, was short nitrogen and phosphorus so I just added those two as fertilizer. I added what the test recommended but maybe it was too much.

I didn't add manure.

Could be aphids.

toolshed said:

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I did soils tests in the spring, was short nitrogen and phosphorus so I just added those two as fertilizer. I added what the test recommended but maybe it was too much.

I didn't add manure.

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Just keep them alive thru summer jalepenos and bell peppers produce the best in the fall

Just got in some extra rows yesterday. Rained all day yesterday and today. They've grown a lot. It's just not getting in the 80's here. We had 30's for lows last week. Really late season weather-wise this year.

maddiedou said:

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toolshed said:

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I did soils tests in the spring, was short nitrogen and phosphorus so I just added those two as fertilizer. I added what the test recommended but maybe it was too much.

I didn't add manure.

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Just keep them alive thru summer jalepenos and bell peppers produce the best in the fall

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Is it the same for Serrano peppers? I just pulled my 5th huge batch off my plant - if they produce even better in the fall I need to get me a booth at the farmers market!

zooguy96 said:

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Just got in some extra rows yesterday. Rained all day yesterday and today. They've grown a lot. It's just not getting in the 80's here. We had 30's for lows last week. Really late season weather-wise this year.

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Oh my gosh...a garden directly in the ground and not a raised bed. Nothing wrong with the raised beds, but I was starting to think I was the last person in the world to do it the old fashioned way.

I've never done raised beds. Always straight in the ground. Have to make the rows myself with a rake. Wish I had a tractor to do it for me. But that's a couple of years down the road.

Very few raised beds here in East Tennessee. Mostly are like my garden.

Squash and zucchini producing like crazy
First jar of pickles made
Corn all has tassels
Tomatoes aren't far from being ripe
Slicing cucumbers are maybe 4 days away
Picked the first okra tonight

How do you do your irrigation? I tried using commercial lines (that farmers use - drip line, etc), and that was a no go. Too many leaks.

DIG .700 OD poly flexible tubing with 2GPH turbulent flow emitters. System is fed by 55 gallon drum that's ~24" off the ground.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DIG-1-2-in-0-700-O-D-x-100-ft-Poly-Drip-Tubing-B36/202306118

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DIG-2-GPH-Button-Dripper-25-Pack-W222B/100126671