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I had to let my garden rest for two years because the yield kept going down. I covered it with black plastic and let it rest. I planted this year but my tomatoes were terrible. I think next year I will bring in some new dirt. I had some great green beans, yellow squash, and eggplant. Lots and lots of eggplant.
OP, there's more to gardening than vegetables. Growing veggies is time consuming and can be difficult, I think. And most veggies aren't really pretty, so for me it is less satisfying than growing something with ornamental value. My mom is a CHAMPION vegetable gardener, but she grew up farming and spends a lot of time tending her veggies. I can't do that.
If I only grew vegetables, I would probably have given up, too.
I was reading some of my old posts from when I first bought the house, and I had no clue. But a ton of reading and planting later, and I am now a lot more knowledgeable. Gardening is a fun hobby. I feel that my surroundings are so much nicer to look since I started the gardens. I also realized that I LOVE butterflies.
I understand the tomato wilt(?) was upsetting, but why did you stop growing the other vegetables?
When your plants seem to loose vigor for no apparent reason, the cause is often nematodes. Perhaps you could research how to control them. One of the key things is to not plant the same species back in the same areas.
It's the squirrels in Denver. Jersey squirrels don't bother with the veggies too much, but Denver squirrels look like 'roided up Jersey squirrels with bad dye jobs. They nibbled away at my butternut squash, my cantaloupes, my spaghetti squash and my zukes.
Grew superb tomatoes, cantaloupes, and corn for a number of years. But then the tomato plants wilted, even though the seeds were inoculated against verticillium wilt, fusarium infection, and tobacco mosaic virus. Also, the crops were rotated to a different patch of the garden each year. Have always believed in crop rotation/relocation. The tomato plants would start out strong but then by early July would collapse into a wilt, so I threw in the towel.
I must say (though I hate to do) that I agree.
Especially tomatoes. Tomatoes, in spite of their reputation of being 'easy' to grow, are anything but.
Tomatoes are ridiculously susceptible to numerous blights, and wilts, and viruses; and infections, and insects and worms and caterpillars and flies, and they are horribly picky about climate and humidity and overnight low temperatures and daytime high temp tolerances. If you don't live in California or Greece, your tomatoes are going to give you nothing but trouble. I have been trying to grow tomatoes for 30 years. I have only ever been successful with ground grown tomatoes in California or with tiny tomato breeds that are so small (cherry varieties etc.), they are all but worthless.
--I am an indolent gardener now but--
I all but gave up on veg decades ago because the bugs and diseases were insurmountable. And I could buy veggies at a roadside stand for 1/10 of what it cost me to grow the things. And I liked flowers better anyway.
So I took to growing the beautiful flowers that I love so much. Very successfully.
And I buy my veggies from the farmers market at a fraction of what it would cost me to grow them in time+materials+labor.
Calvert Hall you're ahead of the game by discerning what works for you and what doesn't. Being right never hurts. Grow something else. Be successful on your own gardening terms, be happy.
Vegetable gardening on a small scale is not economical. But there is nothing like a sun warm tomatoe plucked off the vine and devoured immediately.
We mix flowers and vegetables throughout yard and garden. Some "like" each other such as roses and lavender or chives and beans.
It's the squirrels in Denver. Jersey squirrels don't bother with the veggies too much, but Denver squirrels look like 'roided up Jersey squirrels with bad dye jobs. They nibbled away at my butternut squash, my cantaloupes, my spaghetti squash and my zukes.
not sure what I can do about it.
I just wanted to say that people that post on the Nature thread must not garden. They are over there Reping and giving warm fuzzes to anybody that saves a baby squirrel.
That is part of the problem with gardening. Your neighbor loves and feeds the wildlife - that then over-populates and eats our gardens. It's a vicious cycle. My feeling is that squirrels get the lion share of all bird seed ever sold. I would love to see a study. The more they eat; the more they reproduce and the less that gardeners see of our crops.
i had a 20X20 urban plot but gave it up after a few years as trying to keep up with the weeds was becoming a futile endeavor, they finally won and i lost interest, now i just grow a few pots of hot peppers on the back balcony.no weeds http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...psa6acb0a1.jpg
Straw Bale Gardening is the answer.....especially for tomatoes.
This past spring I planted 2 tomato plants in a straw bale. I also planted 6 plants in a regular garden plot. Both locations started out good but the soil garden plot started to wither up mid-season.
The 2 plants in the straw bale kept on thriving up until the first hard frost. I got more tomatoes off the 2 straw bale plants than the other 6. And NO WEEDS.
You can also start your plants earlier in the straw bales than you can in the soil.
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But a ton of reading and planting later, and I am now a lot more knowledgeable. Gardening is a fun hobby. I feel that my surroundings are so much nicer to look since I started the gardens. I also realized that I LOVE butterflies. 
