Thanks. The growing conditions, so far as I know, are ideal. Full sun most of the day, well-drained soil that my husband rototills before we plant each spring, and this year, we didn't have long, prolonged periods of wet weather, though we did have some weird weather in early April. Hot weather in the 90's for a couple of days, followed by very cold weather and 5 inches of snow. But it's been pretty normal since late April. the first year I planted things (2002) the ground had never had anything growing in it except grass. My husband rototilled an area next to our walkway out front and put in compost and some peat moss. I planted Proven Winners wave-like petunias, marigolds, zinnias, and red salvia. The petunias thrived and so did the marigolds, but the zinnias and salvia got eaten by bugs. 2002 was a good summer: warm, in the 80's and low 90's, with the right amount of rain. But 2003 and 2004 were cold and wet summers, esp. 2003. Most of my annuals got the wilt disease, except allysum and the marigolds. The salvia didn't get it, but they still got eaten by bugs. The summers since then have been pretty good, but I have not been able to grow petunias since, except on one small, narrow side of the walkway garden. I have 4 oblong concrete stepping stones leading from the walkway, over the garden, and onto the lawn. On the left side, the garden is narrow, and for some reason, the wilt disease doesn't affect the petnunias, 2 of them, that I plant there every year. Just on the other side of the stones, where the garden is much longer. There they get sick and die. The only thing I can think of is, that when it rains, lime leaches from the stepping stones into the soil, and kills any fungi that is in the soil, preventing the petunias from getting sick. I have them planted on the left side of the garden this year. So far they are fine. However, this year, some of my plants have been affected by a leaf mold of some kind, that turns the leaf edges brown or puts brown blotches on the leaves. Sigh. However, I have sprayed with Physan20 and it has helped a lot. I have never had leaf spot on annuals before.

Tried growing lupine from seed... planted about a dozen 3 yrs ago in sunny sandy location. One survived and looks healthy but have never had a bloom yet. One source I saw said they are annual and require seed to come back but apparently not so. This year I purchased about a dozen potted plants, post-bloom, on clearance. They've all wilted way back before I got a chance to plant (though they've been watered regularly) and am nervous they have died off! Any comments? I LOVE lupines and can't wait to get them established in my yard in MN ;)! Thanks, Sarah

Janice: According to Clemson I was within the planting window but towards the end ( I am in the central area). I planted April 15th (planting for my area is April 5-25). But you do have a good point about planting earlier. I usually like to plant at least some early (in March) under row covers to get earlier fruit. I do know that this year fruiting (and also my leaf yellowing problem that seems somehow linked to fruiting) is at least a few weeks later than normal. But I chalked that up to the high-nitrogen chicken manure which caused a lot of green leafy growth at the expense of fruit. Two years ago I grew peppers with great success, I've tried squash and cucumbers in these beds 2 or 3 years ago which both failed miserably. But I have added a lot of lime and fertilizer since then. My pH in these beds 2 years ago was 4.0 -5.5 so one would not expect squash to do well. Last two or three years these beds have had tomatoes and peppers, because I care the most about tomatoes and wanted to put them where there was the most sun. Thanks so much for your time. It's been very helpful. :)

I have a similar problem - I have 4 bell pepper plants that had flowers on them and the start of peppers, but now the leaves are beginning to wilt and turn colors and easily pull off - starting at the bottom of the plants. I looked up verticullium wilt and it sounds like it could be the culprit. But it says it's in the soil. This row of pepper plants is right next to a row of banana peppers which have been doing wonderfully well. Our garden is brand new this year - pulled up the sod and tilled up what was under it. We didn't test or do any additives as it was getting late in the season and we just wanted to get plants in the ground. Everything else in the bed (cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts and bush beans are doing fine. Any thoughts on what could be wrong? (I am in NE Ohio)