A little garden rant

[torquill]

Sometimes I wonder why, if I'm such a great gardener (heh) I have such lousy results in my own backyard. I've been growing 30 tomatoes for a couple of years, and I came away with a couple of basketfulls for the entire season. My melons and squash were tiny and died quickly; my potatoes, so easy to grow, were stunted and mite-ridden. And so on.

Let me list, if only for my own peace of mind, the reasons why I've had limited success:

1. Earwigs. Not a few, not just a significant amount, but thousands. Tens of thousands. Enough to litter the ground with shiny backs at night. Newspaper traps weren't enough, beer traps didn't make a dent, and on the third year I resorted to biological warfare. Problem solved, for $35/year.


2. Mites. I thought they were spider mites, but they turned out to be the less common Pacific mite, which loves hot dry weather. Say bye-bye to any tomato which isn't incredibly vigorous, or has the wispy droopy leaves common to paste varieties. I haven't definitively whupped them yet, but I have Ideas.


3. Lack of fertility. I don't have enough nitrogen here to grow potatoes, for heaven's sake, and they're the crop that will fail with even slightly high levels of nitrogen. The soil here gobbles up organic matter and makes N vanish like it had never been... something I didn't suspect given the otherwise superior quality of the soil out here. I'm down to digging out the beds and essentially replacing several inches of dirt with pure organic matter, like brewer's mash or manure or alfalfa pellets, and supplementing with doses of fermented alfalfa tea.


4. Watering problems. The well pump fails at least once a year without warning. The well water itself is high in minerals, which clogs drip emitters within weeks. I was running around replacing emitters all season -- when I realized a plant was dry before it died in a heat wave, that is. No more drip emitters for me. No soaker hoses, either, since they clog up within days. I'm essentially restricted to flood irrigation and certain types of bubblers.


5. Peacocks. They're gone now, but I put a lot of effort into keeping them out of my garden for two years. Love the birds, but not when they eat all my cherry tomatoes.


6. Charcoal rot killed my beans. No, it's not particularly common.


7. Pythium rot claimed vast numbers of seedlings, despite measures taken to disinfect everything. I've switched soil mixes and I'm watering them with an antifungal tea, and I have my fingers crossed.

The main troubles essentially come down to soil quality, water, and very odd pests. I'm hoping I have all three problems solved this year, or at least vastly improved.

Die, earwigs, die. And take the mites with you.