If you look back at the post from May, 2018, you'll see that this year's crops lag behind those of last year. Last year we had record cold and much below normal temperatures that delayed the planting until late March. This year, we had a much milder winter, but it was a sustained cold. We had two nights of frost the first week of April.
But it's rainfall, not temperatures that are the main culprit for this year's underperforming veggies. We've had 144 percent of normal preciptation so far in 2019. Great for ducks, crawfish and mosquitos. Not so great for gardens.
According to multiple sources, too much rain and overcast skies can slow a plant's growth as well as leach nutrients from the soil. For that reason, I've taken to adding Jobe's Organic Fertilizer to the TPC plot in the last week. As poor as my plants look now compared to past years, they REALLY looked poor prior to adding the Jobes. It's made a big difference.
Then last night, I added earthworms to the garden. While there's already a few in the beds, my experience is that adding worms greatly boosts plant and fruit production.
Sadly, the weather prognosticators are predicing heavy rainfall over the next several days. Seems like we can't get a break here in Louisiana.
