It seems like none of my plants are happy, they were all healthy starters and I planted them in here 2 weeks ago and most of them seem to be yellowing or curling or turning brown. I was informed that my dragon tail radish bolted, and that my eggplant roots needed to be mulched. The pepper plants seem to be yellowing, the tomato plants seem yellow and droopy, the zucchini seems to be going down hill, and the outer lettuce leaves are getting weak and yellow and then shriveling up. are these all separate issues or related? is it the soil? temperature? sun? water? any and all advice would be welcome I feel very helpless for my poor plants.

Edit: I am in Massachusetts, the garden gets full morning sun and then mostly full sun through afternoon although there is a tree that diffuses it at some points. The soil is a mixture of topsoil, peat moss, and a good amount of compost. I water it every 2-3 days unless it rains. Here are some photos.

Your poor garden. That sounds very depressing.... With more information maybe we can help.

Can you please send us pictures of the garden and the different plants? It will help us see what is happening. How much sun does your garden get each day and if you prepped the soil before planting, with what? How often do you water?

thank you for replying! I edited original post to add more info.

Thanks for the photos.
Lettuce looks fine, Radishes have bolted, they should not sell radishes as starts.

Tomatoes should come around when it gets warmer, tomato plants are little beasts as long as it is warm.
Pepper plants like it really warm, so they too will improve.

do realize compost is a very mild fertility source and that also depends on temperature, so maybe you need a shot of fertilizer for these fast growing seedlings at this early season.

thank you! is there a certain type of fertilizer you would recommend?

I would agree, your garden looks a little chilly but healthy!

I would recommend a balanced fertilizer (10-10-10, 15-15-15....) in time release form. Whichever one you choose, follow the package directions (and if uncertain, underfeed because you can always add more).

Each year before you plant, you will need to add more compost/manure/other fertilizers to maintain the nutrients in your garden.

I used A LOT of compost, I used lobster compost from coast of Maine, some of my local garden center's compost, and cow manure. should I always fertilize in addition to all the compost?

With that much, the nutrient issues will solve themselves as it gets warmer.

I really do not think that it looks too bad at all. Lettuce and radishes bolt. It's just what they do but you keep planting them in sections so you have a pre-bolt mature section, a nice productive section and a young section. And you keep rotating and planting new.
Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers losing a lower leaf or two is normal but once the weather warms up they should really take off growing faster and producing such good growth that you do not notice a leaf dying here or there. Adequate sun and water is the best way to achieve that.

All good, DO NOT USE fertilizer on plants that is a 10-10-10! Garden plants would grow so fast they wouldn't bloom! You need a 3-4-4 or just higher. First number is N Nitrogen, builds tops. Second number is P phosphorous, builds blooms. Third number is K Potassium and it helps increase yields, improve immunity to weather, diseases and nematodes.
editing here after looking closer at pix - too much water and too little water would be whole yellow leaves - chlorosis would be a yellowing of leaf and still have green veins and indicate a need of different nutrients ( iron, molybdenum and many others) and/or a check of your soil ph. Pull the yellow leaves off.
Each vegetable has temperatures that cue it to perform and grow and fruit at that temp. Like my tomatoes won't set fruit or bloom now my temps are mid 90's everyday. Cooler weather crops like brassica ( broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower...) cannot handle heat above 80's so they 'bolt' to set seeds and preserve themselves for the next proper growing time. Not sure temps in Mass right now, but BEFORE you burn your vegs up with too high a Nitrogen check your soil ph for acidity ( veg plants love acid soils) or alkalinity (my tomatoes get a tums[calcium citrate]before I plant them in March).
With full sun, if your plants weren't weathered off- acclimated- to the weather before planting, you can get issues like sunburn, or if you are watering from above, the plants can get sunburned in spots, try to only water before 10am in the morning so the plants have time to dry before full sun. Here in Houston, I am watering at night now so the sun doesn't 'boil' the water on my plant roots and kill them during the day, they wilt so pitifully it seems they are begging for water, chuckl. Since my cukes are in a wicking tub full of water, I know they are not thirsty. What they are doing is protecting from the full sun- the water retreats to the roots and the leaves wilt to avoid burning - if your plants haven't perked back up by morning (when they wilt) then you can water them.

kittriana said:All good, DO NOT USE fertilizer on plants that is a 10-10-10!

Sumire said time/slow release fertilizer. The plants get fed little amounts over the course of 3 or so months. Slow release fertilizer is perfect for vegetables.

Daisy, you guys are in NEVADA! It works for you there. Mass soil (in spite of all the bark in that compost) and Mass weather could ruin that new garden with that high a NPK.

Slow release does not give that much fertilizer all at once. 10-10-10 divided over a 3 month period. If you are using one of the slow release fertilizers with a wax coating and you live in Texas, you will get a fertilizer over-dose as the coating will melt on the first hot day. Maybe that's what you are thinking will happen in MA? It happens in Nevada so we look for slow release without wax coating.

Soil chemistry has anything to do with how fast/slow the fertilizer releases but temperature has everything to do with it. Cape Cod never gets above 80 degrees so even the waxy coated slow release fertilizers would work.

I know she has a deficiency in that soil from looking at the tomato plant, haven't gotten it nailed quite yet, I simply have seen too many gardens that were ALL plant and no fruit from using that hi an NPK. Nv and Mass have a greater day light length than anywhere in the south, her ph would be hard to be accurate as it is all amendment, tho aged its nutrients would be extremely reduced. I doubt seriously she has access to Dairy manure compost (which would have urea salts most likely) so that would also be highly reduced. Ugh, just spotted something else I need to correct from typing too slow for the brain.

I don't think there is a nutrient deficiency, just chilly plants. The new growth looks fine. Fernflower may not need to add fertilizer at all this summer. I would give it a couple weeks of warmer weather before making decisions about fertilizer.

If anything, the pH is a wee bit too low as all the additives Fernflower put in are acidic. The problem will show up in the fruits in the form of blossom end rot.

Whatever we gain in day length, we lose in season length. It might SNOW tonight. Oops!

Selling radish starts is just silly. Plant some seeds and, in 30 days, you will have radishes.

DaisyI, I think I must be a little farther up the hill than you are: we had snow about 20 minutes ago....

Hold on.. dragon tail radish is grown for the PODs so keep them blooming
and going.
https://www.burpee.com/vegetab...

*madly googling* Oh.... Very cool!

Personally.... I think someone is putting entirely too much water on that garden!

As much as It rains up in Mass... I wouldn't be watering at all...

Also... I would be concerned about soil depth...

While everybody is trying to get the plants to grow by dumping various fertilizers on the beds... I'd be far more concerned about whether there's adequate depth for the plants to grow...

I remember you all had a late snow up there... what has the weather temps been like since you planted these?

Once the temps are right... gardening should be pretty easy up there...

what a wonderful community here! thank you all so much for taking the time to share your knowledge. it seems it's taking a turn for the worse, does anybody know what's going on with these plants?