Its hard to say without more info, but it ay very well have been weather. One thing to the good though is that it is still early enough to plant some more.....better luck this time.

I often think that gardening is something like painting a room. Most of getting good results depends on the prep work. If you are a complete amateur, you might want to do some reading and planning. And start slow. Pick one or two vegetables you really enjoy eating and learn all about how to grow them. Each season add a couple more, as you are successful. You'll be happier with the results.

Probably yes. If you are in zone 5, as your name sort of suggests, it's too early to plant cucumbers. The soil is too cold. Don't worry, it's trial and error that will guide you along, in addition to lots of reading. My first year gardening was pretty much a failure as well. But it's only April so don't throw in the trowel.

You can plant potatoes, beets, swiss chard and carrots now. You can also plant brassica transplants.
You can plant spinach too but it is a little late for that and it may bolt.
I would hold off on cucumbers and such until the soil warms up to 60 degrees. Get a soil thermometer and measure it 6" under the surface.

I would have to say yes, although we have had some good weather in our zone it is to early to set out heat loving crops such as cucumbers and squash. The nights have been to cold even though the days are unseasonablly warm. The good news is that if you restart the plants they will be ready intime to plant out after the last frost date. I too try to rush it, but had direct seeded the squash, the seed had rotted (or so I thought) due to the cold and wet spell so i replanted the area with stuff like kale, collards and broccoli. Well my squash finally popped throught the soil today telling me its getting close to plant them out. So go ahead and restart your seed, its not to late to give it another try.

Cucumbers generally like the hot months (though if you go south far enough you can get months that are too hot), so probably the weather did them in. Just wait until the weather is a bit more stable and try again. For more detailed help include your location in your question, just the state or a nearby city will do. Anyway there are many months more of growing, so don't count out your first garden yet!

Need to know where you live or at least your garden zone to provide any accurate info on planting times and weather. But tilled soil alone is usually enough soil prep for a garden. So what else can you tell us about how you developed your garden, amended the soil, fertilizer used, planting dates, etc.?

Dave

I wouldn't cover them with plastic bags. I would use sheets, blankets or pots turned upside down that will cover the plant. We saved a little tree we had just planted by putting a 3 gallon pot over it and then a plastic trash bag secured with a piece of plywood. It worked great. Otherwide the frost would have gotten in the drainage holes.

ibarney5, beginners luck. There are cool weather crops and warm weather crops. There is still time to get the warm weather crops into the garden! Gardening is all about learning. And about soil!

This year we had a mild winter. I had onions and broccoli in the ground on March 11th and they are still doing great after several good frosts. Here it is late April and today I hope to plant some warm weather crops. My favorite mistake is to kill off my first bean crop (and I know better!).

don't despair start again, cuce's are a summer crop and will not enjoy frost or cold winds, plant for the season, instead of all that digging why not consider raised beds well mulched that way there is some temp control for the root systems of whatever you plant.

if you still have frost maybe look at starting with the brassicas?

in the mean time have a look at our presentations (stills)

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens straw bale garden

Try planting some little broccoli plants, instead...and some lettuce and spinach, from seed. In a month or so, try the tomatoes and cucumbers, again. If you never failed, you wouldn't know what works in your climate and what doesn't. And sometimes, you can stubbornly keep trying something that you know won't work...like growing pumpkins with a three month frost free summer. Wait, that's me! :)

Sorry for the late response. We are in Zone 6. Middle TN southeast of Nashville. We have two broccoli plants and lettuce plants that we planted in early April. They are doing great so far. Well a few hiccups at first, groundhogs/rabbits ate them down to a nub, but they came right back after with deployed a scarecrow to keep the wildlife at bay. As for the squash we planted, several of the plants that we thought were doomed from frost have actually experienced a turn for the better.

Cucumbers are a different story. They are still in the ground, but the stems are starting to yellow. Meh, I do have backups. Got about 12 seeds starting in pots...hopefully.