You need to have your soil tested.

What did the soil test say? How many micronutrients did they test? And how much sun do you have?

Was it a professional test or just one of those home test kits? The home kits are a waste of time and money but if you had a pro test done then as Glib asked, what were the results?

Knowing where you are located, your garden zone, would be a big help too. For example your peppers have BER (blossom end rot). The most common cause is inconsistent soil moisture levels like lots of rain followed by excessive dry spells. And/or excessive nitrogen so what nutrients did you supply - what kind and how often?

Dave

Well, its probably not ONE single thing that is causing your issues, but many different problems. Powdery mildew, for example, needs to be controlled in most regions one way or the other, other by spraying, by cultural methods, or by using resistant varieties if they exist. Insects, same thing, you need to identify the pest and either exclude it or remove it. Stunted tomatoes could be from many things -- inadequate water and nutrients, disease, possibly nematodes (I'm not familiar with those, they're more of a Southern thing I think), herbicide residue in the soil, contamination from black walnut roots or leaves/husks. Beans that only produce one crop could be because you let them go too long and the plants felt that they had done their job of making seeds. Or, it could be weather issues causing blossoms not to set, too hot or too dry, etc.

Basically, gardening IS a big learning curve, and each year also presents new challenges and issues. If you stick with it, you will learn a lot of the things you need to do to improve your successes and minimize your failures. But, you should know that we all face different challenges each year, because there are many, complex factors that can affect the success or failure of a garden, and they interact in new and sometimes mysterious ways each year.

What size is your garden, and how densely planted? How many hours a day of direct, unfiltered sunlight does it get? Some of those problems are possible symptoms of overcrowding, especially if the garden is not in full sun.

I bought a home kit for soil testing, because we were renting and didn't want to put too much (we ended up putting a ton into the yard in the end).

Anyway, we have aimed for edible landscaping so the plants are sprinkled throughout the yard. One tomato plant is probably crowded as the squash 2 feet away grew literally 4 feet (and then died back after getting powdery mildew). The eggplant there is still kicking though, along with the eggplant my son decided to prune for us by cutting off all the leaves. It refuses to die.

One section of garden near an orange tree wouldn't grow anything, until we mulched it and now it is doing much better.

one section of garden is under-sunned. We planted it when it looked like the trees were in shock from being hacked right when we moved in. Then they came out with dense leaves and shaded some area. The peppers were definitely suffering from drought followed by heavy water as I was trying to learn about this "water deeply and not frequently" philosophy.

You have given me lots of ideas. Luckily my lettuce is growing beautifully as did the kale and chard. The stevia and other herbs are gorgeous. So we do have some success!

Are you located in a cool zone like coastal north California? The fact that the kale, chard and lettuce are doing well suggests to me that cool soil temperatures might be playing a role. In which case, raised beds and avoiding the use of too thick organic mulches is called for.

A soil test is only about $10. Contact your local Cooperative Extension Service/Master Gardener and ask who does it locally for a reasonable price. Around here, it's called the Thurston County Conservation District.

If you're going to be living there next year, take a soil sample in and then you can prepare for next spring. If you don't understand what they are telling you, call them and ASK.

And it helps a lot to know what area you live in. There's a lot of difference between the CO Rocky Mtns, the MA coast, and SoCalif.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Find your local Coop. Ext. Service office

And are any of the trees black walnuts?

It would help to know where you are. Different veggies like different weather. So much of gardening is dependent on climate. You can find your gardening zone here. Just type your ZIP code in the box and hit enter. By adding your zone and state (8b AL means I'm in zone 8b in Alabama) to your profile info, it will show up next to your name automatically when you say something on these forums and that will enable people to give you more specific advice.

Did you plant from seed or transplants. This is my 3rd year gardening (usually I've only planted 2-4 things) and I was 90% unsuccessful until I started planting from seed. For whatever reason, transplants don't work for me. Its like they take too long to 'take' before it gets hot and then they just sit there looking green with no flowers for the entire summer. So perhaps you should try starting from seed (but read about that bc that can have its own failures).

So it took me 3 years, but now I have grown zukes, squash, peas, tomatoes, and peppers from seed with great results. So hang in there. Gardening is trial and error and what works from some doesn't work for others due to microclimates and such. You'll figure out what works. Sun, spacing, and soil are the 3 things to focus on. Oh and be sure that you are planting the right variety for your area at the right time. Ex: most books say you can grow garlic in the spring. Well, not here where I am, its a fall planting only. So be sure that you get Zone-specific advise.

Every time I buy transplants they have bugs and/or diseases. Better and cheaper to grow from seeds.

Oh. Oh. Transplants: Were they rootbound? And did you rough up the rootball?

When I was first gardening I'd get random successes and random failures from transplants, and I finally learned to (1) try really hard to get transplants that weren't rootbound, (2) if they were rootbound, tear up that rootball _ruthlessly_ and (3) even if they weren't roobound, thoroughly rough up the rootball anyway.

Since I started being incredibly ruthless with the roots, I haven't had the experience of digging out a dead or failing plant and finding it still confined to its rootball. And _very_ few plants, even the ones that were most rootbound and therefore most ruthlessly root-damaged by the time I was done with them, died.

If your plants are "sprinkled thruout the yard", have you used a weed-and-feed product on the grass?