My Backyard Garden

Hi @blindpup10 - you really have green fingers. I also have “Duke of Tuscany Jasmine” plant. Last summer this plant had quite a number of flowers. However, this summer there was only one flower. It is healthy green plant. Growing new leaves, new branches, but no flowers, no buds. I have tried putting Epsom salt, digging soil around it slightly , etc. I would appreciate if you can give some suggestions. Thanks for sharing photos of your garden. I find them motivating.

 

ah thats lot of help. Thank you will try the banana peel in water thing.

 

Hi @blindpup10 - thank you. Look forward to @MalStorm response.
And yes thank you for providing the correct name for this type of Jasmine. I thought it is from Mogra family.

 

Pumpkin and zucchini will sometimes drop the first few flowers before they start holding on to the flowers and producing fruit. This can also happen when the fruits first start to grow. Some of them will stop halfway and just rot without getting bigger. If you have a lot of bees it will help with pollination. They will also do this when the plant is stressed with extreme heat or lack or rain. If your plants are not doing well it might be better to pull them out and start new ones.
As for jasmine, I don’t have much experience. I can only grow it as an annual here since I don’t have room to bring it indoors in winter. I buy the one variety (not sure if it’s name, but it doesn’t have as many petals as Duke of Tuscany) available at the Asian market and it seems to flower well during the season. I give it some compost and Osmocote.

 

@MalStrom, what is a good frequency to water pumpkin and other melon plants? Sometimes, the plant doesn't seem to grow at all.

 

Are your plants in pots or in the ground? If they are in pots they will need frequent water. If they are in ground then judge by the amount of rain you get. If you don’t have rain then water deeply at least 2-3 times a week. If you put at least 3 inches of mulch around your plants then you can water much less.

 

I wasn't aware of the mulch tip. We are at the peak of summer and it doesn't rain for us at all in summer. I think I do water more than twice a week. At least once in 3 days. How do you fertilize your soil? In our area, the soil, in my view, is not much fertile. It is also very sticky like clay.

 

If your soil is heavy then it will help to add a lot of organic matter like compost, manure and peat moss. Over time the soil will become lighter. I add alfalfa meal and kelp meal as well since it is supposed to help plant growth. Since I have a lot of plants I add Osmocote slow-release fertilizer which only needs to be applied twice in the season. When I had fewer plants I used to use a balanced organic fertilizer.