Vegetable Garden, Part 3: Successes & Failures

The weather's been dryer, and I'm having to water the garden a couple of times a week. We're getting winds with gusts up to 28 miles per hour (less than average for December), combined with spray precipitation. From my bed at night I can hear water trickling in the downspout. This sometimes goes on all night. But in the morning when I check the rain gauge it is usually only damp at the bottom. Sometimes it may show a 10th of an inch or so. This is good for shallow-rooted crops, such as grass, carrots, and vegetable greens, but is not good for deeper-rooted plants like tomatoes, corn, shrubs, and trees.

Last week I transplanted 30 asparagus seedlings into a raised bed. The plants are about four inches tall and resemble little pine trees. I ended up with some extra seedlings, which I'm keeping in the flat just in case any of the transplants don't make it.

Onions, beets, cabbage, broccoli, and lettuce seedlings have also been planted in the garden. Mustard greens are looking good and are almost ready to harvest. We're harvesting radishes and cilantro every several days. In South Carolina I had trouble getting my radishes to form bulbs. I was never sure why. Here, that problem doesn't seem to exist. They're a winner.

Sweet potatoe and squash plants are spreading. Peanut plants are about six weeks old and looking good. Carrots have been thinned, but seem to be growing very slowly.

We finished harvesting the last batch of lettuce, which was a tremendous success. Lettuce heads were given away to neighbors and visitors. The lettuce doesn't seem to bolt here like back in South Carolina, and can be grown year round -- another winner.

Corn, 3rd planting (silver queen) -- Three weeks ago they were beginning to tassel. The plants looked good and were a deep, dark green color. But I noticed they were only about four feet tall, about a foot or two less than normal for this variety. Abruptly the leaves began to turn brown and dry. They are putting out very small ears. Corn is a heavy feeder. I had given them a side dressing of fertilizer. Lesson -- until I can build up more organic nutrients, I'm going to have to use more chemical fertilizer.

Nutrient deficient corn plants

Corn, 4th planting (silver king) -- Had about 60% corn stalk borer infestation; have now been treated with insecticides. The plants are about eight inches high; I gave them a side dressing of fertilizer yesterday.

Sweet peppers -- several plants have died. I think it's been a little too wet for them. The remaining plants are looking okay.

The Irish potatoes were wiped out by some kind of soil disease. They were planted during a rainy spell, in raised beds. I suspect fungus or bacterium, or both. I purchased them in the supermarket, which, in my experience, is usually a mistake. I posted a message on Costa Rica gardening about them. According to one of the responses, potatoes used to be easy to grow in Costa Rica, but now there are nematodes, bacteria, and fungi, and they are marginal at best for the home gardener. One woman said she can buy Yukon golds at the feria (farmer's market) in Grecia. I hope to go there one day with her to get some good seed stock.

Jalapeña peppers -- Bought 2 more plants at EPA. They're beginning to show signs of nitrogen deficiency. I just gave them some fertlizer.

Tomatoes -- All 4 plants are looking healthy and are covered with blossoms. Two of them have been moved out to the garden. I covered the soil around them with black plastic in order to prevent soil-born diseases. I'm worried about the spray precipitation, but it has slacked off in the last few days. The other 2 I'm keeping on the balcony (out of the rain) for a while as a precautionary measure. However, they are beginning to get too big for the pots.

Happy gardening!