Can Some Please Give Me Some Direction?

My garden seems to be doing somewhat ok, but not flourishing. The dahlias, squash and peppers I planted almost three weeks ago seem to be healthy, pest free (from what I can see), blooming . . . but that haven't grown much since I put them in. Kind of just sitting there.

The pretty romaine and leaf lettuce I put in a week ago look wilty and have lost some leaves. The cucumbers have lost some leaves as well. For whatever reason, the zinnas have all but dropped dead.

Should I being doing something different? Maybe the newer stuff is still recovering from the transplant? Or maybe the whole garden needs some type of (organic) fertilizer? Anybody have any advice from a silly enthusiastic beginner who probably didn't go about this quite right to begin with?

My poor romaine! :o(

This lavender isn't happy.

The cucumbers lost some leaves and tendrils since I planted them a week ago, but maybe they'll be ok?

Mine looked really sad till just this past week - I planted about 4 weeks ago. How has the weather been in your area? While we had hot spells (95' +) mine were not happy - just this past week we have had alot of rain and that seemed to perk everything up.
Hang in there!
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How did you amend your soil? Did you do a soil test?

Transplanting is hard on plants. They need water and shade to recover.

Yeah, that was my first mistake. No amending, no soil test. So I need to start with a soil test and go from there?

It would help to see if your garden is missing any of the nutrients for veggies.
I would do a soil test when you can. But it could still be from transplant shock or too much heat
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Thanks, guys. I'll start with that. :o)

Were they properly hardened off? They look sun stressed to me. Also, the cukes look a bit overgrown to transplant. They should have barely had the first true leaves. Anything bigger doesn't usually take kindly to transplanting. At this point I would look at something like that, as compared to nutrient content of the soil. Unless you've planted in toxic waste, nutrient deficiencies wouldn't show up that quick. A soil test is always a good idea though.

You could by a few bags of compost and use a mulch around your plants. My first garden looked something like this, so don't give up. Melody makes good points about hardening off your plants first. I still amke this misake at times:-)

I would mulch, about four or five inches-- if you don't have enough compost, straw works really well. I've used straw this year on a lot of the garden and next fall it will go in one of the compost bins with horse manure. After it cooks it will be wonderful compost. Hang in there, it's going to be great!!!

I would pick up a gardening book like the Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Ed Smith. Covers all the basics. Not saying you cannot ask questions here, just I would maybe start there.

I love Dave's Garden! Everyone here is really awesome.

I think you're right, Melody. The second batch of plants were too far along for transplant. They were under fairly natural conditions at the grower but got a bit of a shock when placed right out in the sun. Temps have been somewhat mild this week, though, so they'll probably pull through.

Even though I'm muddling through this, I'm enjoying it and getting a little bit of exercise, so I can't complain. And what with the floods and everything, even experienced gardeners are saying it's a pretty challenging year, so I guess it's as good a time as any to get in there and see what works. Next year's garden is going to rock!