Not a farmer at all.. just a home gardener..

 

When I was a teenager I was the free labor to take care of the garden. I would flood the tomatoes daily and they flourished. As the years went on my garden slowly went down hill. I no longer flooded them but the plants always died early.

 

I moved to Pennsylvania and my woes continued. This year my beefsteak plants died by July, and my Monsanto hybrid plants grew quick but the lower branches had yellowing branches in June which spread to the top by August. I had a poor crop. My cucumbers died mid August and I have one wilting pepper plant left.

 

What am I doing wrong? I'm lazy with weeding. I watered them daily. I fertilized with manure when I planted them. I used to use sevin but did not this year.

I turn my manure in the soil in the fall . its to harsh to if its not composted , so maybe thats the problem

Manure is not a wonder fertilizer. It sounds like to me that your plants are under nourished. For years I have used garden tone organic fertilizer along with tilling peat and compost into my soil. This year I stepped up to Fox Farm nutrients and my whole garden has been better than in years past.

The branches dying on tomatoes from the bottom up is blight. There isn't much you can do about it. Try not to plant tomatoes in the spot for 3 years, rotate your crops.

God hates you.  Just kidding, just kidding. 

 

You have to weed,  Did you prune the totatoe plants?  You need to prune them so plant doesn't put most of it's energy into growing leaves and flowers but rather growing fruit.

 

There's always next year.  Keep at it. 

I did not prune them too well.

 

Any suggestions on what to do now?

Work your soil. Double dig it and add fertilizer. When we start a new bed, it's equal parts top soil, compost, and perlite (or vermiculite). Fishnut turned me on to Fox Farms stuff and it's some legit plant steroid cocktail.