First Time Gardener, Missouri 6B: What am I doing wrong??
This is my first summer gardening! I'm in Missouri, Zone 6B. We were military and moved around a lot, so l've always wanted a garden but never had the chance. Now that we're settled, I finally got to start one! ...it's been ROUGH.
I have 3 raised beds, 2 larger and 1 smaller. The smaller one has strawberries and is doing well.
They're producing like crazy, although the strawberries are tiny.
The other two beds are struggling:
Tomatoes: 2 plants barely grew and have produced 1 tomato and the cherry tomatoes plant has grown but only produced ~3-4 and still looks miserable.
Bell peppers: stayed tiny and never really took off.
I've gotten 1 teeny pepper out of it. Flowered well.
Bush beans: first variety didn't germinate; second variety sprouted but half stayed tiny and the rest eventually stopped growing. Still no beans in sight.
Cucumbers: started struggling; I recently discovered a whole aphid colony underneath the leaves and have been treating them. They were TINY, the plants just started kind of taking off (legit weren't that tall 3 weeks ago) but minimal fruit.
Marigolds: thriving in the strawberry bea, but two died in the other beds and the rest look terrible.
I've fertilized regularly and watered deeply, letting the soil dry enough between waterings.
I'm wondering if I have a soil issue. I used basically the same soil setup in all 3 beds: cardboard, sticks, grass clippings, then Black Kow compost + Kellogg Organic Raised Bed & Potting Mix.
So... what would you do next?! Is this sounding like a soil/nutrient issue, watering issue, pests, or something else? Should I test my soil before attempting fall crops?
l'a love some success with a fall garden. My husband is unimpressed with the $$$ I've spent for like 4 cucumbers, 3 cherry tomatoes and a handful of toddler-sized strawberries.
I’ll attach pictures of the garden and the cucumber aphid ecosystem I discovered.
Bonus points for organic/low-toxicity advice and a good Missouri planting calendar/cheat sheet!