Cucamelon was a big miss. it took up about as much space as a cucumber vine would, and produced the same “amount” of fruit but the fruit was so small it seemed like a waste of time. it tasted ok but not enough to dedicate space for it. I think i might be done growing cucumbers at all unless i grow parthenocarpic ones inside.
Any kind of native aster: i planted some and i like the look, but i get volunteers of native asters all the time. Theres no point in me paying money when i can just transplant them where i want them. New york aster which i spent 20 bucks on just popped up in my backyard before they even flowered.
Carrots: ive given up. I dont even like carrots. Why am i spending so much time on a crop for a veggie i dont like and i cant grow
Spinach- It cooks down to nothing, Squash-insects/disease galore, Any fruit trees -insects/disease/animals galore, honeyberry-destroyed by heat, Blueberry-need acid low productivity, Strawberries-rot weeds buy cheaper at market, Carrots-royal PITA/cheap at store, lettuce-always dies.
It takes a lot for me to never be willing to try something again as a class. Mostly that just happens when I dislike eating it. I’ve killed a lot of plants over the years. I don’t usually give up on something I would like to grow at the first failure. Even things that I have given up on in general I usually would be willing to re-consider if I felt that there was reason to believe a different variety might do better and negate the reasons I gave up on it.
Couple of examples of things I gave up on in general for my region.
Strawberries.
There are some strawberries that will produce, but it seems like there are always pillbugs & millipedes chewing holes in them anywhere a berry touches the ground. Yes, I could grow them in hanging baskets or if I was willing to use extensive plastic row cover I could probably reduce the problem. I don’t want to do that though. If someone came out with a heat tolerant strawberry that mostly had erect non-trailing fruit I would try them again, because I think that might solve the issue, but they don’t interest me enough for me to breed for that, so it probably won’t happen.
Another,
Sweet potatoes.
I like sweet potatoes. Always have. They are also supposed to do well in the deep south. However, in my poor sandy soil they have always done miserably. Tiny little tubers no bigger than my finger, and very few of those. Again, if I wanted to grow them badly enough I could probably do it in a raised bed with amended soil, but I can’t see doing that for something that is cheap to buy and no better tasting when home grown. Especially something that is supposed to be easy to grow in the south and undemanding. Just not worth it.
Again, if I heard of a variety that was supposed to do super well in poor sandy soils without amendments I would be willing to try them again, but I’m not willing to change how I want to grow them or provide them with better soil, so i probably won’t grow them again.
Another,
Any kind of bean. Green or dried. Cowpeas/yard long beans and some other types grow very well for me, or at least the plants do. However, any kind of bean seems to have horrible weevil pest pressure. I tried for a number of years and I can’t seem to get more than a handful of pods of any bean variety or species that don’t have weevils in them. Again, if I sprayed aggressively with insecticides I could probably control the weevils, but I don’t want to have to spray beans to get a crop. If I heard of any type of heat tolerant bean that was weevil resistant I would give it a try, but otherwise, pretty much done with beans.
Eastern North Carolina is also zone 8 in the South and has sandy soil with low fertility. We produce about two billion pounds of sweet potatoes each year, more than and other state.
The N to PK ratio in your soil might be too high. Were the vines nice and lush but the roots small? That’s usually the sign of too much nitrogen.
Yeah. I know it’s strange. Sweet potatoes are supposed to be easy in the south even on poor soils. I tried them in several years with the same results. The vines were average. Not especially lush, but they grew ok. I know my soils are low in nitrogen not high nitrogen. I can only grow things like tomatoes, peppers, or collards in areas where I’ve added plenty of organic matter the soil. Otherwise the plants just stall out at a few inches high. My soils are generally low in most nutrients actually. It’s more sand than anything else. Things that do well here on the native soil generally have low fertility requirements, deep roots, and are at least somewhat drought tolerant since the sand has a low water holding capacity. Things that are reasonably happy in these soils are things like Chickasaw plum trees, pears, and grapevines. Most annuals, except things like butternut/Seminole squash, need a lot of soil amendments to grow well.
I love sweet potatoes too. I was told by the so called experts that it was a waste of time trying to grow them so i never tried. There’s a guy down the road from me who moved here from somewhere out east and he really knows his stuff when it comes to growing them. He does use raised beds.
I now get to trade for them. Its the best!
What i found out this year that i shouldnt be growing is white peaches. They are my bridge too far. This year was an exceptional year for stone fruit here but the white peaches went from under ripe one day to super juicy and sweet the next with honey bees devouring them.
Maybe i just dont know how to handle white peaches compared to regular ones but this was very disappointing.
I can’t figure out watermelons. Most melons actually. I usually waste a big chunk of ground on them and I think I’ve only harvested a handful of muskmelon types over the last 3 years (all pretty small). Think I’ll try them in a raised bed next year but might just throw in the towel if I strike out 4 years in a row.
And I’ll never grow 40 or more varieties of tomatoes again.
I’ve been growing like 40+ tomato varieties the last couple years. It’s a lot of tomatoes and time spent on the string trellis as I grow 75% that way to conserve space. I’ve found a lot of winners in the last couple years so I’m thinking a dozen varieties will be good moving forward and help me reduce some garden work as well.
Im not into saying never… but growing potatoes is something that i want to take some time off from. I just grew fingerlings this year and they taste amazing… but it was alot of work for something that i only eat once every week or two.
I am going to take a break from growing garlic as well. I turned all of my garlic into powder which will last me a couple of years. It is many times better tasting than any other garlic powder i have bought… and i prefer it to season things versus dicing up cloves.
I dont think i am going to grow tomatoes in buckets again. I get enough for myself and a few to give away but not enough production to can and freeze… which i want more of going forward.
Im never going to plant or try any more primocane fruiting blackberries. The whole schtick of them is to have them fruit on primocanes… which are ripening now. I have no desire for more blackberries now. I got my fill many months ago.
Yeah. I was told only red potatoes would grow well in our sandy loam. We had outstanding luck with various fingerlings then Yukon Gold. Copious amounts of Yukon Gold. Was it the manure and straw cover I wonder?