Gardening Notes

I've run into several problems with this year's garden:

• About 1/4 of the tomatoes are getting BER - blossom end rot.
  This should be easy to resolve with the addition of calcium and careful attention to pH and watering. I will wait until next year since I've weeded most of these bad tomatoes out already.
  
• The pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe, squash and zucchini vines growing out of the boxes have not grown much at all and are not producing fruit yet.
  This might have happened because the soil was not tilled and their roots are having trouble extending. It could also be a lack or excess of water as I don't know how well the soil drains or retains water. I should probably give them a little help in the nutrient area as well.
  
• Tomato transplants out of the third box dropped all their tomatoes last night and are looking pretty bad.
  I transplanted these very late to thin out the box and didn't expect them to do well. Now do I dig them up and ditch them or see what they do the rest of the summer?
• The onions and garlic are piddly and didn't grow very large.
  Most of these struggled from lack of sunlight because the tomatoes choked them out. Neither of these like competition, so next year I will reserve a box just for them. Also, I probably should have planted garlic around November instead of the spring. The garlic that had plenty of light still didn't grow well, which could be because they prefer the cold to warm temps. Finally, I planted both of these too deep. I read one source that said the necks should be barely exposed. I think I buried all the onions, and some of the garlic.

The pillar of peppers seems to be doing well, although it is not covering the chicken wire as anticipated. I've already harvested several jalapenos, hot banana peppers and anaheims. The goldbar hybrid squash in the boxes are about 5 ft tall and still producing squash, though more slowly than several weeks ago. The larger tomato breeds have not yet ripened, but are producing very large fruit. I can't wait to try it! The cucumbers are producing lots of fruit... too bad the tomatoes aren't ready to accompany them. The peas and broccoli have finished their season, and the beans are doing great right now. I will probably sew more beans to keep them coming and cross my fingers that it's not to late to plant more.