I am noticing that ALL my root veggies are very, very small (you can't even eat them!) when I go to harvest them. The beets, carrots, potatoes, radish were all planted right after Mother's Day. My broccoli had the same problem....very small heads. WHAT the heck is going on with my garden? Please help!
The root vegetables will be helped by a fertilizer with a high last number (0-0-10, for example). The numbers correspond to helping Leaves-Flowers-Roots. Also, how heavy is your soil? The root vegetables may be spending a lot of strength pushing through heavy soil. Compost by the truckload would help that. The broccoli? Perhaps a high middle number fertilizer, and planting earlier. Broccoli likes cool weather, even frosts, and hates hot weather. It makes a good fall crop to plant.
Are you sure you have given them enough time to reach harvesting size? Potatoes usually require at least 100 days, there are some varieties that mature quicker but even those require longer than a month. Carrots can take up to three months.
I was going to post the same as toni. I don't think you have given them enough time. My potatoes are the size of peas and they have been in longer than yours. the carrots need thinning and are no where eating size. I just pulled a few beets this morning and was surprised how small they were. the leaves made them look like the beet root would have been much bigger than it was. Give everything more time.
I was wanting to give them more time, but my potato plants have turned that yellow tinge, my broccoli flowered, the heads separated and bolted, my radish flowered too. I'll leave the beets and carrots in longer and see what happens. As far as fertilizer the only thing I've been giving them is the "Comfy" tonic and the Manure I put in with the soil when I first filled the beds. The soil I've been using is "Scots Top Soil". I try to keep away from any type of chemicals.
My radishes have bolted also. they are only about a 30 day crop. when you plant your garden mark the rows with labels and also mark the approximate date the crop should be ready. that will give you a guideline as to how soon you can expect to start harvesting. I also mark on my calender, varieties and when they should be getting mature enough to pick. Have your potatoes flowered yet? if they haven't you certainly are too early to think if digging anything, even the "new" potatoes. Potatoes should not have manure in the soil with them. they turn out to be very scabby. though still edible. How aged was the manure, that you added to the bed? Sometimes if it is put in too green the plants just wont thrive. Manure should be composted for a year before putting it in your beds. I saw an Amish calender that had dates for when to do gardening things and the "spreading manure" date was in Feb. for planting in May. that would be a much thinner layer of compost than what we, most likely, would use in our gardens or flowerbeds. they then turn that under when they plow, so it wouldn't come in contact with most of the root system. It's been pretty hot here, so if your temps are similar to ours the broccoli bolted due to the heat. You can try them again in the fall for another crop. they do much better in the cooler weather. Don't give up Kate. Some years are more frustrating than we expect. There is a lot more to growing a garden than non-gardeners realize. It's not always "put in a seed and you get a garden", experience is the best teacher and if we fail the first time, we have learned something. That it didn't work that way, so try it again, a different way. Is this your first garden? I don't remember reading a post that included this information. so forgive me if I am assuming you are a new gardener and you aren't. Is there anybody around you that has a really nice garden? Stop (cold turkey) and ask how that person does things also, most of us gardeners share our experience, what works or what doesn't, about how or what each plant likes, to grow. Hope some of this helps.
