Funky Business and Mistakes Made

Something strange is happening in my garden. Maybe it's the weather--the fact that there hasn't been much sun recently, only overcast skies and high winds... Or it could be another reason. Maybe it's my fault. I don't know.

It seems that the squash and cucumbers in Box # 3 at Cam's house isn't doing too well. I don't know if you can tell in the photo below (of squash), but the stem of the plant seems to be split in two. It's as if someone has taken a knife and split the stem open.



The same strange occurrence has plagued the cucumber seedlings. Their stem (see below photo) is also split wide open. I think you can see the funky business much better in this photo.

I can't help but wonder-- is it my fault? I must have done something wrong in the transplantation of the cucumbers. I should have buried the stem deeper in the soil, like my father did. Well, lesson learned. I'm guessing that these cucumbers are a lost cause.

Anyone have any ideas how this could have happened to my plants? *sighs* I'd love some closure. I can possibly understand why the cucumbers seem to be dying, but why the squash in Box # 3?

If you saw Friday night's post about squash, you would have seen that the squash in SFG Box # 1 is thriving and growing really nicely. So the squash problem is puzzling me.

Here's an image of the wonderful and healthy squash from Box # 1. I snapped this today.


So remember the mushroom dilemma in the front vegetable bed? It has invaded the back yard square foot garden boxes. But I've figured out why they started appearing. I'm positive they have to do with the onions that I planted. I think that when I bought them from the store, they had mushroom spores on them.

It makes perfect sense because the mushrooms only appeared AFTER I had transplanted the onions to the front vegetable bed. So far, they haven't hurt anything, and the lettuce head that I harvested is delicious.

Now the mushrooms are appearing in my backyard SFG boxes in the areas where I've planted the onions.

Take a look below. If you look carefully, you can see tiny mushrooms starting to form.


Anyway, I am really annoyed. I don't know what to do. I would love a harvest of healthy onions, but I don't want any of these mushrooms spreading across the garden.

Any advice? Should I just pull out the onions and be done with it? Or do you think the damage has already been done.