Hello - I need some help with my garden. This is my first attempt really at growing a few types of vegetables. We have all types of peppers, tomatoes and small cucumber. I used some miracle grow soil in the bed, and lately the leaves are turning yellow and falling off. Some of the peppers have black spots on the leaves. I really have no idea it they are getting too much water or not enough. I went to a store and they suggested Microlife 8-4-6 which I put in the bed to try and help.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and photos are attached.

Thanks
Greg

Howdy, and , Greg 😎
Over and under watering kind of mimic each other.
Most bagged soils have fertilizer in them, so you don't need to fertilizer for several weeks.
If your bed is elevated, above ground, I hope it can drain well.

Dig down in soil, if soppy wet, that's not good. You might want to get you a moisture meter, there like five bucks. Or use a wood bbq skewer, or chop stick, to check how deep soil is wet.
You want top inch or two of soil to dry before watering.
If soil down deep is wet. Just water shallow, when top couple inches are dry.

You'll get the hang of it. 😀👍👍

Pepper leafs will probably start straighting out. Of course, mine sometimes do that. The heat, cold nites, over/under watering, or over fertilization are the major causes, usually.

Let me know what ya find out.

Ttfn. New gardening friend. 😀👍👍
😎😎😎

So... how many hours of direct sun is this bed getting?

How much do you water?

What kind of soil is under the bagged stuff?

How deep is the bagged stuff?

If I was doing it...
I think I would lift these plants... turn the bagged soil... see if it is wet or dry... and then follow the directions for "double digging"... and see if I couldn't mix some of the native soil into the miracle grow stuff.

And then re-plant and water well.

Incidentally... what are those pellets on the top?
Is that the fertilizer, or is that snail bait or something else?

You know... looking at these yellow plants, and reading about all the additions you've made.... I wonder if you haven't over-fertilized?

Working with chemical amendments is hard.
most people over-do.

Thank you for the responses.

I went and got a moisture meter and the bottom is way wet. See picture.

I may also have over fertilization as well, but hope not. The pellets are the Microlife fertilizer recommended by one of the plant shops. They were too brittle for me to remove at this time so i went ahead and just had to blend them with the rest of the dirt. I turned much of the dirt, but will most likely have to do what you said and lift the plant and maybe mix the wet and dry areas.

The whole bed is bagged soils and is about 10" deep. The whole bed is 12' long and 2' wide. I also drilled some holes near the bottom to hopefully help dry out.

You can tell this is a first time and will take some time to get used to it. When I went to the store to get some another pepper plant the lady there wanted me to try mushroom fertilizer. Which I purchased, but will wait and not add more fertilizer at this time as you all say. May have over done it as well as over watering. So when I first planted it I was drenching it good then I started watering every other day now I have been just getting the top wet only.

Oh and one of the tomato plants is doing way better than the other. I tomatoes would probably be hard to grow, but something is already getting them. Do I pick them while green?


Thanks again. .
.

I prefer to let the tomatoes vine ripen.
The tomato looks like maybe a caterpillar got into it.

Gardening isn't difficult, it's mainly a matter of paying attention to what the plants tell us.... Learning what they're saying... Just takes experience, which you get by doing.

Whoo-boy 👍😀 ! You got the best, of the best compost there is, my friend 👍👍.
You may want to add around thirty percent perlite to it, and possibly the same thing to your existing bed, for better drainage. Butt, that probably will have to be for next year.

We can discuss your drainage problem more, is there anyway you could drill holes in center of bottom of bed ? You could take a long drill bit, and drill holes from top, if you can't drill from bottom.

The imperfection in that tomato is nothing to worry about. Just cut that spot out and enjoy the rest.👍
I doubt it's rotten, you could of let it get fully ripe. Dirty worm, or bug.😟
Butt ! Bugs Happen !

Take a garden fork, or a narrow rod, and poke some holes to bottom of bed, this will help soil at bottom dry.
Soggy wet soil at bottom can get stagnant, grow creepy stuff, roots will start to rot ! And it's bye, bye plant. 😞😭😭😭.

Ttfn friend 👍👍
By the way 🤔? What's your real name ? Fill it in, on your avatar. Would ya, could ya. 👍👍
😎😎😎