Check Your Garden Planting Schedule

Q. This summer I had a terrific garden with lots of tomatoes, but my zucchini died by mid-summer, green beans were lush and beautiful but produced nothing, and just a couple of fruit from my cantaloupe but no watermelon. I’m not sure if the roots of my carrots and beets have gotten bigger but they sure have beautiful tops! I rototilled in a bag of manure, waited two weeks, and rototilled again.

Be careful when adding bagged steer manure to a garden area. It has not been composted and so is considered "raw". Let it "rot" in the garden. 

A. Several things may have gone wrong for you. In a longer email you said they were planted at the right time of year. I’m not so sure. When it’s hot you should have finished harvesting your beans, carrots, and beets a long time ago. You could be planting for a second crop of these just before cool weather arrives, but you shouldn’t be seeing tops now. These are cool season crops.

I don’t know where you got your planting schedule, but I am sending you one that I created for a local company. It’s adjusted for 1000, 2000, and 3000-foot elevations. It also tells you which vegetables you can plant from seed and those from transplants only. You still need to adjust it for your local weather microclimates but it’s correct otherwise. I will be happy to send you a copy by email and to anyone who wants one.

Zucchini and melons are warm season vegetables. It sounds like they were planted at the right time. You don’t mention the varieties of vegetables you planted. Maybe you chose the wrong variety. Selecting a good variety for the hot desert and planting cool season vegetables just before cool weather arrives, is a must for successful gardens.

I am also sending you a copy of a local vegetable guide that suggests some successful varieties that you can try first. Record what you try and when you plant it. Plant trusted varieties first and experiment with unknown varieties in small numbers.

Sounds like you rototilled steer manure into your garden area. Nothing wrong with that. Sounds like the two weeks that you waited before cultivating a second time worked for you. Steer manure is not a bad choice it just depends on where it came from, how it was processed and, taking these into consideration, your level of comfort using it. Make sure you wash all of your vegetables before eating them.