Expert: Richard Clark - 7/15/2010

Question
I have a small "ground" not raised garden containing: cucumber, onions, tomatoes, leaf lettuce, green peppers, watermelon, And green beans. For the most part everything is doing well. The green beans are in the sun most of the day and shaded by approx. 4pm. The ground has large cracks in it even though we water everyother day if not back to back nights. (8pm-8:30pm) Some of the tomato plants appear to look wilted and shriveled up, while others are doing fine. The green beans don't get very fat and tonight a lot of them were turning yellow and soft. Is this suggesting too much water or not enough?

Answer
Valarie
 How hot is the temperature. How much water goes into the ground in 30 minutes. The garden might need a good soaking to make sure water goes to the deep roots.With your heavy ground, water might need to stand there before it all soaks in. Sometimes with the right amount of moisture the plant will shrivel up to conserve water. After the air temperature cools off the leaves will look normal again.  How deep are the cracks in the soil? If the cracks are deep they could be breaking some of the roots off. This would cause the plant to not receive the food it needs from the roots. Pull one of your bean plants and look at the root system, is it all there. You might try making compose and mix it into your garden next year to avoid the ground from cracking.
  Hope this will help. Richard