I am sure others will chime in that know more than me, but the part about "watering 4 times a week in the spring and more in the summer" caught my attention! I had mine watering every two days here in NY during our latest heat wave and many of my leaves were starting to yellow from overwatering. Switched to every three days now and seems to be better, soil is still very moist below the surface. Poke down into the soil and see how wet it is if you haven't already.

Just in case--there aren't any black walnut trees nearby are there?

You might try mulching (I use straw), as it prevents microbe-containing soil from splashing onto the leaves.

Very few disease will affect a wide variety of plants, especially plants from different families, which is what you have going on with beans, cukes and tomatoes. Can't see what's up with the tomatoes but the cukes appear to have a virus. The beans do not look like they have rust - you would see orange or rust colored pustules if that were the case - but they do like they may have some other sort of fungal issue. Applying fungicides tends to be effective only if you apply before you see symptoms - they are for the most part only preventative rather than curative.

Do you fertilize at all? Compost is not a fertilizer and it is very possible that harvesting your plants is pulling out nutrients that need to be replaced in quantities beyond what compost may provide.

I would also agree that mulching will help. And I find it difficult to accept a vegetable garden needing watering 4 times a week in spring!! I live in a summer drought area and don't even water that frequently in the middle of summer! And the soil looks quite dry as well and somewhat compacted. I fear we are not getting the whole story :-))

I wonder if it's spider mites. Look for webs, and take a magnifying glass to the underside of the leaves as they are very small.

Linda

I'm always curious about how many hours of direct, unobstructed sunlight?

I appreciate all of your responses – this is very helpful
thus far. Here’s some more info to respond to some of your questions issues:

-The sprinkler system waters for 5 minutes - not sure how
much water that actually is, but I do try and make sure it doesn’t get too try.
It’s frequently very hot here – 90’s and humid – and dries out quickly. My grass dies very quickly if not watered.

-I thoroughly tilled the ground in the spring and do my
best to keep weeds out by hand (compaction issue).

-There are not any black walnut trees around that I’m aware
of.

-Sunlight is about from 10 AM to 4 or 5 pm. The fence you
can see in the pics blocks more of the sun for part of the garden. I do have
two trees that are growing (planted before I moved in) that are going to
continue to restrict sunlight over time if I don’t cut them down.

-I have fertilized a number of times this year.
Everything was growing great until about three weeks ago.

-I will check for spider mites and also check the soil.

A couple of key take-aways thus far is I should cut back on watering and use
some straw for mulch. Any other guidance based on the above information would
be appreciated!

Well, to follow up on the watering part.... yes, that could be a problem. Sprinklers not so good- get the leaves wet and bounce organisms from the soil on to them. Could explain a lot about the leaves in your pictures. Get the drip irrigation hoses instead- will wet the soil without splashing. Also make sure you water in the early morning. The idea is to water deeply and infrequently. With drip irrigation I run them for an hour every three days now with highs around 90 degrees F.

If it is a sprinkler and not a soaker hose, that can cause problems--spraying leaves instead of the ground. I think you would want it longer than five minutes.

You mentioned northern Virginia--if you mean the DC suburbs, the VA master gardeners host booths at the Arlington Farmers Market and likely other spots. Perhaps they could look at a leaf sample and advise. Good luck!

Spider mites definitely part of the problem.

How long have you lived there? Have you had good garden years? Who lives on the other side of that fence and do they treat their lawn?

It does look like spider mites is part of the problem. However, I have lived in several parts of Texas and this time of year nearly everything in the garden dies from heat, diseases or pest. My temperatures are in the mid 90's and very humid,

Instead of looking at it as early in the year, you may have 2 short seasons, one in the spring and one in the fall. You may have to plant earlier in the spring so the garden will have made by this time of the year. You could plant tomatoes transplant again in mid to late July and plant beans in August for a fall harvest.

As others have said it is best to apply water to the ground and water deeply less often.

The talk of spider mites triggered my memory. When I planted my beans I had the seeds in a bowl and I noticed a bunch of small/tiny bugs in the bowl after it sat on the ground for awhile. This was way back in April. Spider mites? If that is the case, given my garden is "decimated," what should I do to get rid of them? Pull all the plants out or spray them?

I think I will try and replant in a couple of weeks.

Responding to other great questions:

-The neighbor rarely mows or cares for their lawn. I doubt they are using any pesticides as we are luck if it gets mowed once a month.

-I have had two better garden years, but the past two have been poor been here 4 years).

why don't you do a one year without any of those vegetables? Just crucifera, apiaceae and asteraceae.

That is an option, but I'd miss out on beans and cucumbers which are two of my favorites.

Pic 2 looks like chlorosis, no? Perhaps would be smart to check if the ph is optimal and see if there is a calcium deficiency? But this is my relatively uninformed opinion after checking out "yellow leaves - green veins" online.

What zone are you in?

Just "turning on your sprinklers" is the wrong way to go about watering. Put a pie plate or a bowl down and run your sprinkler for 5 minutes, 10 minutes..measure how much water you're actually putting on the plants.

Put your fingers down into the soil a good 3 inches..is it dry, wet, damp? You need to know if your plants actually need the water...water 3x a week just for the sake of watering is not good...best way is to water deeply when they need it...that has no schedule...it's a day by day judgement call.

Take some soil samples and send them off to see what you're dealing with. You didn't say it..but I'd bet you tried adding different things when the garden started going bad a few years ago..you may have your soil all out of whack.

Whatever is going on, it's crossing different species...so planting anything in future years is just going to be a mess until you figure out what's wrong with your soil now. All counties have cooperative extensions..go see them..ask them if they test soil, if they can identify bug/viral/bacterial problems...your best bet is your own county...they are on top of what is an issue where you are, and they are mostly all farmers/gardeners and have a ton of wisdom.

Could be a lot of things, eliminate the obvious, spend $10 on a moisture meter, link attached. You'll probably find you're watering too often. Forget sprinklers, invest in a few soaker hoses and a mechanical timer. WIth the water question out of the way, you can evaluate and go forward.

On the meter, There are tons of them out there, the one I mention I've had for years, no batteries, the probe is a lead/copper composite, add moisture and you have a very weak battery which develops a small voltage which the meter reads. The "reading" is calibrated in % of water. The only maintenance is yearly rubbing the probe with a brillo pad or steel wool to keep it shiny.

https://www.amazon.com/Indoor-Outdoor-Moisture-Sensor-monitor/dp/B005T4720I/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1499576384&sr=8-9&keywords=soil+moisture+meter

Spider mites are extremely small so whatever you saw in the bowl it probably wasn't them.

Those look more like spider mites than aphids. The aphids I see in my garden are bigger than these. Spider mites look like little dots that move.

I found one cob web in my green beans as well. That makes me think they are slider mites. I had to look really closely to see those dots moving on the bowl...

I'm going to spray for the slider mites tomorrow. I noticed that the green beans are trying to grow back - they are not dead.

This: -The sprinkler system waters for 5 minutes - not sure how
much water that actually is, but I do try and make sure it doesn’t get too try.

5 minutes of a sprinkler does nothing but wet the foliage of your plants.

Yes, those are small enough to be spider mites.

I'm already working to adjust my watering - thank you to all of you who pointed out my poor watering habits! Hopefully that and spraying for the spider mites will solve my problems.

You have one heck of a crop of spider mites. Does all the damage start when the weather starts to get hot? They love hot weather.

That's right. The garden flourishes until mid June. Last night I sprayed for spider mites and did so very carefully. I noticed numerous cob webs throughout. No question it's spider mites. I'm going to spray a few more times.

So what should I use, rather than a broad spectrum insecticide?

sorry lgteacher, I see your link now...

lgteacher, good article! Thanks for sharing it.