Try posting follow ups each with a picture. It is not the most elegant way but it works. Also, more information on what conditions the plants are experiencing would be helpful. Could the plant have to much water or light, or maybe to little? With the pictured plant ( amaryllis, right?) I am guessing that it is getting too little light or too much water. Could it be root rot? Does any one else have any ideas? I hope your plants start doing better. L.G.

I agree with felix about the mulch. It would be much less expensive and more fun to just mulch the whole area and sketch out a design for how you want it to look, leaving room for a sitting area, flowers if you want them, shade (though it sounds like you've already got plenty of that)and any other features you'd like, maybe a vegetable patch next winter or a fruit tree somewhere. Then you can work slowly, putting in plants as you find them, with a basic design laid out. The extension service in your area should have plant lists that will give you a good idea of what's salt tolerant and can live in shadey areas. Armed with a list and a sketch, you can have some fun with it. If you really want it designed and planted for you, I'd try the local nurseries. The big box garden centers tend to cater more to us do-it-yourselfers. But a nursery might have someone willing to help and I know some will sketch out the plan for you if you'll buy some of the main plants they suggest. Then you can work in the other stuff as you have the time and money. If you're going to mulch, I'd suggest laying newspaper under the mulch to keep weeds down. It works better than any weed cloth I've ever tried, and as it breaks down, it's good for the soil.

[Thanks, Dave, The OP was eaten in cyberspace. It had all the extra details and i spent a considerable amount of time on it. I was so angry when I had to retype it all I forgot to include some of them in this version. The "more info" post was just supposed to be a followup comment to the OP that doesn't exist apparently.] Anyway... 1- The beds have a good 12" + of Viagro organic potting mix, composted cow manure and partial bale of peat moss. They are on top of a very nutritious garden bed that has been in use a few years. We have lovely top soil that I have been amending for a long time, but was tired of dealing with weeds from neighbor's yard creeping in and so we added the raised beds this spring to look nice and help delineate the beds from weedwhacker approved areas for my DH. Transpalnts had additional Plantone and bone meal down in their holes. Have also been using fish emulsion. This is what I usually do. Our soil is very fertile, rich, and loose - dug down over 12" in the existing garden, so I did not feel the need to rush and fill the boxes to the top on the first go. I want my plants to get the nutrients from the soil beneath, plus potting mix adds up when you are renovating the whole garden with new beds. (I gave them a boost of the mychorrizal fungi (Thrive) just over a week ago, to try and pump a little more beneficial life into the mix.) Cedar mulch was added very recently, maybe two weeks ago. After problems were developing but before I pulled anything. I usually use cypress mulch and had never experienced a problem like this in ten years of gardening here. No tomatoes in this area of garden since 2008. I usually mulch once temps are staying in the 90s week to week, which they were. There is no mulch in the beds that have peppers, btw, as I had some summer greens with them. They were first to have any leaves drop, but as I said, they appeared as sunscald and I didn't think twice about it. SO at any rate, I don't think I did any bad gardening except I had never heard not to use wood mulch around my plants, so I have been doing that for 10 years! I used the cedar for first time this year, but other than that all has been pretty usual for me. I can pull that away but I don't think these tomatoes are going to make it. I don't mean to say I do everything perfect, but just have never run into all this. I did put a lot of thought into my garden planning renovation, so I would like to salvage what I can, and know what to go ahead and cull. I am pretty sure upon the existing tomatoes are going to have to go. I went back out and cut heavier stems that are showing internal symptoms in tissue. I hate to get rid of them, but don't really want a garden hospital all summer either. That's pretty depressing. Ugh.

Hi Yep shes done. The fruit looks ok so all you can do now is wait and see if the bananas puff up and turn yellow . Could be a month or 6 depending on the cultivar . Do you remember how long the took to ripen last time ? Post pictures at bananas.org there is an Id thread, someone may be able to identify it, they love to help and its more active than here. Next time she flowers don't cut any leaves that still have some green, they still are producing as long as there is some green left. I know some people like their trees nice and neat but the leaves are the engines so be conservative when your trimming, especially once they fruit. More leaves equal better fruit. You have pups so keep up watering and fertilizing and the next batch will be bigger. Bananas need sun, water and compost ( fertilizer ) Good luck