G.M.,

I think it is mostly the lack of sunshine and the continual rain. Some of my tomato plants are growing vigorously but others are not.

There is also the issue of heavy rains leaching the nutrients out of the soil. You might want to give your tomato plants a feeding with some kind of tomato plant food, all-purpose vegetable fertilizer, fish emulsion or liquid seaweed.

You could spray your pepper plants with a solution of 1 tablespoon of Epsom Salts diluted in 1 gallon of water. Pepper plants seem to love Epsom Salts.

I have noticed that my tomato plants and pepper plants in containers are growing at a faster rate than those in the ground which is why I suspect that the repeated heavy rains are leaching the nutrients out of the soil.

When we have had the occasional sunny hour or two or three, my plants seem to put on a little new growth right away. I think if we had 3 or 4 mostly sunny days in a row, with 6 to 8 hours of sun per day, you absolutely would see rapid plant growth. Lately, though, the sunshine is rare.

And it is a possibility that the cold damaged your plants or that digging up and then replanting them did set them back and that is why they are not growing. The problem is we have no way of proving/disproving that theory. If they are driving you nuts, dig them up and plant new ones.

In cooler climates that have more rain and humidity than we normally have, many plants grow and thrive. First of all, the northeastern parts of the country have more hours of sunshine than we do. That is why they grow long day-length onions and we grow short day-length onions, or the new neutral or intermediate day-length onions.

However, their tomato and pepper plants (in Michigan, New York or Pennsylvania, for example) wouldn't even be in the ground yet unless they are using something like Wall-O-Water plant protectors or frost blankets to protect them from late frosts. By the time their plants are in the ground, it is still rainier and more humid there than it is here.

I think of the northeast's summertime climate in those states mentioned above as being equal to our growing conditions in May and the first half of June. Think about how well our plants grow during May and June. We have higher humidity and lots of moisture, but MOST YEARS we have a lot more sunshine in May than we have had so far. In mid-June the extreme summer heat sets in and our plant growth slows. In those northeastern states there is not that extreme summer heat to slow down their plant growth.

I know it is frustrating to watch the plants just sitting there. As much as we need the rain, these plants NEED the sun, but I don't know when they are going to see it again.

Today is not looking too promising for sunshine!

Dawn

Thanks Dawn I will give the peppers some Epsom salts to see if that stimulates them any...if not...up they come...lol. I will plant something else in their place. Perhaps more tomatoes since I have the seedlings coming on.
I may give the tomatoes some fish emulsion...but will need the ground to dry up to even do either the peppers or tomatoes...they don't need water right now for sure.

Isn't this weather just depressing? So dark and gloomy out again today. We had planned to go pick up some river rock and pea gravel for some of our projects but I don't even want to get out right now. I have been out to the patio several times and it is just damp out there. Get damp just walking outside.

Well soon enough it will be hot and dry...unless we have a summer like 2002...it rained all summer that year. Torential downpours too and was stormy into July. We will see...there is sure no predicting what the weather will do. haha

Thanks for the good info!
G.M.

I wouldn't DARE gripe about rain after that 110-120 days I had without a drop of rain last summer! I'm scared to death it will stop and never come back. :) Yes, I am desperate to get out in the garden too, but not about to complain about rain... I am too afraid of jinxing myself! LOL

G.M.,

I got outside for almost an hour-and-a-half and managaged to do a little deadheading, weed-pulling, etc. I was getting all excited thinking about what I could get accomplished this afternoon, and then the drizzle started up again, so I'm back inside!

Dawna,

I know, I know, I know. You are so right. In spite of the rain we've been having, all the big old cracks in the ground from last summer still haven't closed back up, although they are getting there.

My small water garden ponds are full, but the two big 'native' ponds (stock tanks from the 1940s thru the 1970s) are still only about half full. Some of the springs are running, but some haven't started back up yet. It seems like it takes years to truly recover from the kind of drought years we had in 2005 and 2006. I love the fact that we are getting rain, I truly do. I just wish we could have a sunny day here and there.

It seems like the rain here is an all or nothing proposition. Either we have no rain at all for endless weeks, or we have long periods of rain with little sun and we start missing that sunshine. We have had so much rain, fog, drizzle, and heavy cloud cover that I'm starting to feel like we moved to the Pacific Northwest. We have mushrooms and toadstools sprouting everywhere.

Dawn