“What’s Wrong With My Vegetable Garden?” Northwest authors have the answer

This book from two Northwest authors might help with your veggie troubles. (Timber Press)

Northwest garden expert Ciscoe Morris says vegetable gardens weren’t of great interest a few years ago, but now they seem to be making a comeback.

“For years you tried to talk about tomatoes, nobody wanted you to talk about tomatoes, they wanted you to talk about their rhododendrons, now, I go give talks they go, ‘Wait a minute I want to know about tomatoes, I want to know about lettuce.'”

Just in time for the veggie garden fever, a couple of Port Townsend authors have put together a vegetable growing trouble shooting guide called “What’s Wrong With My Vegetable Garden?”

Author David Deardorff says while he recommends gardeners prepare for success, their book can come in handy when things don’t go as planned.

“Do it right from the get go and hopefully you’ll avoid problems, but when you run into something there’s little picture guides, little thumbnail photos that you can figure out what is wrong,” said Deardorff, in a discussion of the book on 97.3 KIRO FM’s Gardening with Ciscoe.

Listen to “What’s Wrong With My Vegetable Garden?” authors on Gardening with Ciscoe

Ciscoe says the images offered in the book can be a big help in finding the right solution to whatever problem you’re experiencing.

“That’s really nice because sometimes you’re looking at that vegetable going, what in the heck happened to that thing?” says Ciscoe. “There’s a lot of things that go wrong even when you start right.”

But Ciscoe adds the solution can oftentimes be very simple. You just need to identify the problem.

When asked what the biggest mistake they see from Northwest vegetable gardeners is, authors Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth say it’s being overeager in getting started.

“I’d say one of the biggest mistakes – we have a cool climate here and warm season crops are most people’s favorite crops, tomatoes and squash and beans and corn, and they do not do well when the weather is cool,” says Deardorff. “Wait until it’s good and warm.”

“What’s Wrong With My Vegetable Garden” is available through Timber Press.

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor