Frustrating Year for Veggies

This is the most discouraging year I have EVER had! And I'm not alone-everyone I talk to-even The Farmers Mkt growers are having slow and/or no production- is it the weather, gremlins or what? Both old reliable varieties and new ones are doing terrible! I have a Celebrity tomato that is about 12" high with 1 tomato!Cucumbers are not producine, and on & on. Here is a photo of my Kwintus Pole Beans that should be loaded- I have had one picking- WHAT is causing these totally curved beans? Plants are in 3 locations and all doing this. I could write a book of problems, but I just plan to scrap it all and try again next year. After 40+ years of gardening it's really a bummer!V Any help will be great. Thanks-

Concur; This arguably the worse year I have ever had. Common beans would not set. I did not get a single picking out of four varieties and 5 separate plantings. Only eggplants, peppers and watermelons performed well. I blame it on the extremely erratic weather pattern we had endured this year. Crop failures are to be expected periodically, but I have been growing vegetables since the 1940's and don't remember a worse year. Early crops, English peas, broccoli, cauliflower, pak choy, onions were satisfactory. Summer crops terrible.

I agree also. We were late getting things in due to it being such a cold spring. Then, several nasty hail storms with ping pong and bigger hail. Then, just as things started shaping up, the grasshoppers hit and they are still hanging out and eating. It's heartbreaking. I'm just hoping I can get some food out of it. 😢

I’m having a great year. It was slow but our spring rain had provided me with berries beyond belief and of all kinds. I live in zone 3…every year is a challenge and each year some harvests are better than others. I have loads of tomatoes.

Our winters are long. It doesn’t matter to me what grows…it only matters that I’m in the garden.

So can anyone tell me why my Pole Beans are all curled instead of straight? They are a Romano type of flat pod beans that are normally delicious.I will post more photos tomorrow.

You are growing Phaseolus vulgaris 'Kwintus'.  There is a variety, Phaseolus vulgaris 'Anellino Verde', ( Pole Bean 'Green Anellino') that is naturally curved.
https://hopeseed.com/product/bean-pole-anellino-verde/

It could also be caused by irregular watering which can make straight beans curve. It should not effect the taste thankfully.

ZilyZily, not arguing with you, but I know they are Kwintus-I have been growing them at least 7 years- I got the seeds from Kitazawa Seed Catalog and save seeds every year. They are a very didtinct crunch and flavor. This curling has never happened before except a very small number. I also have a Celebrity Tomato that is about 12" high with 1 tomato on it! Armenian cucumbers that usually do real well have nothing on them-same with other veggies.

So….think what you are doing differently or have not done 5his year that you usually do…

Not doing anything differently- been gardening for over 40 years- friends are having the same problems too varieties that have done well are really messed up- a Celebrity tomato should be about 4ft tall- it's 12" grown in the same conditions as always- just gonna blow this year off and try next year!

My garden has been plagued by animals the past few years. The property is mostly wooded and borders National Forest lands. The area is gentrifying so not as many hunters while a lot of land is being cleared and developed for wineries. I resorted to solar electric fence for deer and gassed the ground hog. Ran hundreds of feet of chicken wire for rabbits but baby bunnies still find their way in. Planted pole beans and Southern peas over and over. It was a rabbit restaurant. Flea beetles have been fierce this year and Mexican bean beetles, which have always been controlled by birds, are not responding to neem or Spinosad.

I've had good peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, mustard and kale. Lots of figs. Had initial flushes of eggplants but now they are dropping flowers. Peppers keep getting rabbit pruned. They eat leaves, stems and fruit. Even the hot ones. They wash them down with lots of chard. I'm trying some late zucchini and straightneck. They ate half the seedlings but aren't bothering them now.

Jo, as stated, irregular watering or rainfall can cause the curling but so can wide fluctuations in day/night temperatures when they are setting. I have no explanation for your dwarf tomato.

Hi Maypop- good to hear from you- I don't think irregular water is an issue- we have irrigation here and it rub\ns on a schedule- I think I'm going to blame it on 2 very cold spells we had oin late winter (each time the night temps got down to maybe 7 degrees and lasted a week) that was 2 seperate times. Then later we has some unusual wet spells which is rare here. My garlic that I planted last October gave up- the tops usually freeze back a couple times but then come back robustly this year they gave up and died in early spring. Beefmaster Tomato is about 5ft tall and not one tomato- there are plenty of flowers-I know tomato blossoms don't need bees-Armenian cukes- same thuing- I could go on, but won't. I sowed 3 varieties of peppers- every ont shot up about 4ft and looked like a tall scrawny weed! No resemblance to peppers at all!!! Enough rambling!

My 15" tall Celebrity tomato with 1 tomato! And Beefmaster- 4ft tall with 0 tomatoes!

Jo, give that Celebrity a break. It does have a second green tomato and some flowers. However, allowing your plants to sucker like that means they are putting a lot of energy into leaves and not tomatoes. Some growers stick to a single stem. I let mine branch a few suckers at two feet and then at four feet. That's because the extra leaf cover shades the fruit in our heat and strong sun.