A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Slow growing garden

Has anyone else in PA noticed how slow their garden is growing? OR am I the only one? My tomatoes, peppers, brussel sprouts, cauliflower and other things are way behind schedule. I assume it is the cool weather and rain. However I did put newspaper and straw down as a mulch so maybe that is keeping the soil cool. I know the slugs love it.
I was frustrated with the black plastic rutine so I went with straw and newspaper. It is painful to put out good beer for the slugs but it sure works. any comments?

Sorry, I'm not in PA so I can't comment on the situation. But I feel your pain and have one suggestion: cheap beer. (Shaeffer comes to mind!)

Good luck!

I agree with Marica. Good beer? NEVER.
It seems gardens everywhere had a bit of a late start. Soil temp, in my opinion, is the biggest factor in plant growth, so long as there is adequate nutrients.
It is sometimes good to go easy on mulch until the plants take off, but it sounds like things will go okay...plants will simply blast off when conditions are right.
Marica...

Agree with Dave. Things here were off to a slow start, but these few days of 90+ have really kicked it. Also agree with mulching too early, especially seedlings or true summer crops like beans & squash (transplants not so much).

Be sure to take pics, Dago! When I think things aren't going well, it always makes me feel better to see the pics I took two weeks ago. Wow! Things are growing. On the flip side was the lettuce. One day it's sitting happily in the garden, just being picked a salad at a time, and then next... . Caught it just before it bolted.

I hear ya, Dave. Questions for you coming soon.

I'm also from PA and believe we were off to a slow start, but have recently had a surge in growth. We've already picked lettuce, snap peas, and carrots just last night. I've spotted some little tomatoes growing along with pumpkins, zucchini, yellow squash, and butternut squash.

The only veggies that seem to still be lagging behind are my peppers and eggplant. I'm sure those will take off as well as long as we keep having these mid to high 80s.

Thanks everyone. I just needed someone to hold my hand. I mulched early because of the weeds. If there is ever a medal for growing the best weeds I would be in the running for it. seems everytime I use a neighbor's horse, goat, sheep, or hog manure I get a different set of weeds. It could be nicely composted and I still get weeds. UGH!

Dagored

Another thing I should share. I tried to kill slugs with Lite Beer last year and found that it does not work. I don't like Lite beer either so the slugs and I have something in common. The cheapest beer I could find was 13.50 a case, guess I need to go to a different beer distributor.

Here's a thought. Slugs do not differentiate between drinkable and undrinkable beer. They are happy with the dregs. !!! Pour the slop into a dish and let them drown. No waste.