Problem #1. Not preparing the soil well

Garden soil lacking nutrients

One of the most common problems that gardeners run into are nutritional deficiencies in their plants. Plants take nutrients from the soil and if your soil does not have the adequate nutrients for it to grow, they fail to thrive. All plants need three things to grow ? water, sunlight and nutrients. Nutrition is often overlooked and the deficiency of which results in unhealthy plants, discolored leaves, less yield and smaller fruits.

Solution:

Problem #2.Letting container plants go root bound

Root bound container plant

This is one of the worst things we tend to overlook in our garden especially if we have lots of containers. What this means is that the plant has the vigor to grow and has all the nutrients it needs but it doesn?t have any space, it is severely limited and constrained by the size of the container it?s growing in.

Solution

Problem #3.Insufficient calcium for tomatoes and pepper plants.

Blossom End Rot

Tomatoes and peppers are likely to suffer from one common problem which any gardener would not want to witness, blossom end rot where the bottom part of the plant or the fruits rot due to lack of calcium in the soil.

Solution

Problem #4.High nitrogen, crowding and insect damage

High Nitrogen and Insect Damage in Radish

This common problems plagues all root plants like radish and carrots where we add a lot of nitrogen in the soil in the form of manure. Too much nitrogen in the garden soil can cause an excess of green leaves with little to no fruits or vegetable production. 

Solution

Problem #5. Over-watering 

Over-watered onions rot

It?s easy to worry that your plants are not getting enough water that you tend to overwater them zealously. But that affects root plants and tubers especially when they have started forming bulbs. Onions for example can rot if the plants are over-watered when they are producing bulbs.

Solution

Problem #6.Premature harvesting

Premature Harvest of Garlic

Knowing when to harvest can be a nightmare for some, especially the root plants like garlic and onions. A lot of us including me are guilty of harvesting veggies early only to realize they had some more time into the growing season. Harvesting veggies earlier than its maturity time can result in smaller bulbs or unformed fruit and vegetable production.

Solution

Problem #7. Cauliflower woes

Cauliflower damage & buttoning

Cauliflowers are great to grow in your garden but two problems that commonly affect cauliflowers might discourage you from trying to grow these in your garden. The first one is insect damage due to aphids, infestation can result in shriveled leaves, undeveloped cauliflower heads which are tiny in size.

The second problem with growing cauliflowers is the buttoning of heads i.e. very tiny head formations. It usually happens if the temperatures go high, cauliflower is a cool season crop and does not withstand higher temperatures. The other reason that causes buttoning is high nitrogen content in the soil. 

Solution (for insect damage)

Solution (for buttoning)

Problem #8.Growing plants in shade or not enough sunlight

Watermelon plant not getting sunlight

Most plants need about 6-8 hours of sunlight every day to thrive. Plant actively photosynthesize sunlight and water into energy which helps them grow leaves, stem and roots. 

Solution

Problem #9.Not planting in the correct season

Radish grown in summer heat

Sometime we get anxious for gardening season and plant something out too early only to realize that the plant is not productive. And then you wait to start the entire process of germination all over. Not planting in the correct season will result in decreased to no yield at all because a vegetable needs either warm or cool weather to grow.

Solution

Problem #10.Not buying seeds from a trusted source

Purple Radish turned out to be Yellow

You may be tempted to buy cheap seeds from third party/foreign ebay sellers and end up growing something which wasn?t as advertised. Know the difference between heirloom, hybrid, organic and non GMO when buying seeds and never compromise on quality.

Solution

Always buy seeds from a trusted source.  Here are some links where you can shop for your seeds

1. Amazon
2. Seed Savers
3. Baker’s Creek Seeds

To watch all these tips do watch our video from this blog post

A gardener learns more in the mistakes than in the successes ? Barbara Dodge Borland.