Why the duck cant I grow....

I did nt want to take Sam Potter's thread on why he cant grow carrots hostage so I thought I'd post the veggies I cant grow for unknown reasons. Maybe you have suggestions or maybe you have your own impossible yet very common veg that refuses to grow in your garden. For the record I can grow carrots. Takes alot of weeding but I can grow them.

My two crops I cant seem to grow are sweet peppers and corn.  Maybe I dont have the right temps for green peppers but the plants do great, they flower but no fruit. I gave up years ago.  Its the corn that I find baffling. Farmers all around me grow acres and acres and acres of the stuff no issue.  i cant seem to grow the damn things!
I had made a dozen mounds to do 3 sisters, planted 2 seeds per hole and watered, and waited and nothing! Without the corn I cant grow the beans to climb up them ! Its a bit embarrassing too because I got into a discussion earlier this summer with Paul on whether corn is a food or not (see crop rotations and permaculture thread) and the blessed things refuse to grow!

Makes me angry.  Oh well there is always next year.      

You're not alone on the corn Jeff! I wanted to grow sweetcorn in my new polytunnel. I sowed direct since it was getting late in the season. The temperatures ought to have been OK in there, but nada, nicht, niete.... At the moment I'm inclined to blame the seeds, although some were new. Maybe it was just still too cold and damp.
I've now sowed some peas and beans instead - now why haven't my beans come up?!!

Coriander for me. Every single time. It just bolts before I get more than a handful of leaves off it, regardless of when I sow. I have tried shade, full sun, succession sowing every two weeks, different varieties. Still bolts within about three weeks of putting on true leaves. I have basically given up and just let it go to seed now for the coriander seed instead.

Joao Winckler wrote:Coriander for me. Every single time...

That's only a problem if you like the taste of soap... which is what coriander/cilantro tastes like to me and several of my friends.

I substitute parsley to good effect. It will self-seed in my ecosystem, until it decides it's lived in that spot too long and then I have to find it an new spot to grow for next 5 years or so. Parsley is very nutritious and dries easily.

Did you soak your corn before planting?  How long?

If not why not try planting again.

If still no luck, then get some trellis or simple poles for the beans to climb.

Jay Angler wrote:

Joao Winckler wrote:Coriander for me. Every single time...

That's only a problem if you like the taste of soap... which is what coriander/cilantro tastes like to me and several of my friends.

I substitute parsley to good effect. It will self-seed in my ecosystem, until it decides it's lived in that spot too long and then I have to find it an new spot to grow for next 5 years or so. Parsley is very nutritious and dries easily.

LOL. I can grow coriander/cilantro (in the winter) to great effect, but parsley just won't even try. I buy plugs and put them in, they stutter along for a while and die. I finally had a flat of seeds come up, put them into the ground yesterday, but Im not expecting much. They are just too persnickety.
(it took me years to learn: cilantro and tomatoes in the winter, or not at all.)

Tereza Okava wrote:

Jay Angler wrote:... I substitute parsley to good effect. It will self-seed in my ecosystem, until it decides it's lived in that spot too long and then I have to find it an new spot to grow for next 5 years or so. Parsley is very nutritious and dries easily.

LOL. I can grow coriander/cilantro (in the winter) to great effect, but parsley just won't even try. I buy plugs and put them in, they stutter along for a while and die. I finally had a flat of seeds come up, put them into the ground yesterday, but Im not expecting much. They are just too persnickety.
(it took me years to learn: cilantro and tomatoes in the winter, or not at all.)

Ecosystem is everything! Maybe parsley just likes my heavy clay soil. Once its presence has improved the soil a bit, it wants to move on, like the Littlest Hobo!

Anne, no I did nt soak them.  You think thats the missing link?  I doubt the farmers do but Ill try it!