Vegitable Garden- Plants are not growiing well (:

[S.richard]

Hi,
My plants in the summer garden are not growing well. I planted pumpkins, beans, tomatoes , cucumber. But the growth rate is very very small after they came out from seed . I used 'Musta multa', but the results are same. Could anybody suggest what kind of special soil /fertilizer/ I shall use , and where are those available? or any kind of suggestion. i live in Espoo. Thanks.

regards,
Richard

[Flossy1978]

Are they getting enough sun?

I believe those plants all need direct sunlight, if my memory serves me right.

I am growing on my front walkway balcony 2m tall sunflowers and whatnot. They're all growing fine. It gets most of the sun.

I am growing on my balcony different lettuces (I have rabbits). They are growing very very very very very slowly. The sun only comes there in the late afternoon.

[Rip]

Here I'd say tomatoes and depending on variety possibly cucumbers and beans are greenhouse not outdoor plants. Pumpkins like warm sun, water and nutrients, (when I had them, it was on a top of a compost heap (initially, before spreading)), if not possible I guess I'd try to make soil deep and fertilize rather regularly.

[Liam1]

We have done quite well with tomatoes, aubergines, lettuce leaves and (though oddly shaped) radishes. Berries also grow well

Think that there were two issues, getting the watering right (they need quite a bit more than the natural rain) and not expecting much in year 1 for the tomatoes and aubergines. Sun may be important too - all except the lettuce is in a part of the garden that get sun all day, though the lettuce is shaded after about 3pm

Think we used the same soil - bought in40l bags from Plantagen/local Garden centre.

Our biggest enemy to a fine crop is a bloody great hare that our kids love, but my wife (the gardener) is less keen on!

[S.richard]

Are they getting enough sun?

I believe those plants all need direct sunlight, if my memory serves me right.

I am growing on my front walkway balcony 2m tall sunflowers and whatnot. They're all growing fine. It gets most of the sun.

I am growing on my balcony different lettuces (I have rabbits). They are growing very very very very very slowly. The sun only comes there in the late afternoon.

Hi its a plot, that is an open garden, getting plenty of sunlight.

Here I'd say tomatoes and depending on variety possibly cucumbers and beans are greenhouse not outdoor plants. Pumpkins like warm sun, water and nutrients, (when I had them, it was on a top of a compost heap (initially, before spreading)), if not possible I guess I'd try to make soil deep and fertilize rather regularly.

Could you suggest what kind of compost or fertilizer I shall use?

[Flossy1978]

I've read plants like radishes and brussel sprouts and the like need a lot of watering. You can't just leave them to get water from the sky. Otherwise for instance radishes go woody like. Carrots and whatnot need lots of sun too.

Some plants I think I can't be grown here because of the time it takes and the short summers, as well.

Maybe you could go to the big book store attached to Stockmanns in Helsinki, if you live nearby. I bet they will have the perfect book for growing flora and vegies here in Finland, even in what area, I just bet. Fins love to read..... So it's probably very possible LOL.

[Rosamunda]

Hi,
My plants in the summer garden are not growing well. I planted pumpkins, beans, tomatoes , cucumber. But the growth rate is very very small after they came out from seed . I used 'Musta multa', but the results are same. Could anybody suggest what kind of special soil /fertilizer/ I shall use , and where are those available? or any kind of suggestion. i live in Espoo. Thanks.

regards,
Richard

I would not attempt to grow tomatoes or cucumbers on an open plot any more. I had some success growing them against a south-facing wall but they ripened very late and the yields were not too good. So I gave up and now I have a polytunnel where I grow tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, peppers etc.. I already have ripe tomatoes whereas in previous years, growing outdoors, I usually had to pick them green and ripen them indoors.

If you can rig up a plastic tunnel or some kind of mini greenhouse on your plot then that might work. But the varieties for outdoor growing are not the same as the greenhouse varieties. Did you grow from seed? Maybe you bought the wrong variety (seed or plant). You cannot plant tomato/cucumber seeds in the ground and expect them to fruit in Finland. The seeds have to be sown indoors (February) and then planted out in May or June. It is better to buy small plants from a garden centre.

I suggest using growbags (Prisma sells them) for growing tomato plants - they are plastic bags which contain soil and fertilizer (they sell organic bags or regular) and you plant (plants not seeds) directly into the bags. They need watering every day. If you use growbags you don't need to add any fertilizer.

Liquid feed is available from all the supermarkets. I use Substral Ekologinen Kasviravinne which is NPK 3-1-5 but I have a special fertilizer for the pumpkins which I only add after the flowers are pollinated and the pumpkins are growing. Chicken poo is also a good all round fertilizer, you can also get it from the garden centres (eg Plantagen).

As for beans, no problem growing them outdoors. I plant French beans, broad beans and runner beans directly in the ground, preferably when the soil is dry (they don't germinate too well in wet soil). They don't really need any extra fertilizer (they fix nitrogen in their roots all by themselves) but you can add some lime in winter. I get the best yields from a early crop dwarf French bean (generally I prefer bush or dwarf varieties to climbing plants as it is very windy in my garden). Again, once you have beans on the plants you need to water them every day. I think mine will start to crop in about 2-3 weeks from now. They are flowering at the moment (I sowed in early May).

The easiest things to grow outdoors are potatoes, beetroot, jerusalem artichokes, kohl rabi and then lettuce and radishes and courgettes (zucchini) etc Carrots grow well too but you have to cover them with fleece to keep the carrot fly out. If you don't have a greenhouse or a balcony, I would give up with the tomatoes and cucumber.

Good luck and don't give up!