I'm about to give up on planting veggies. After years of hard work, constant watering, care and attention, I'm still infested with bugs that eat my veggies the minute they look good! My only achievement is asparagus, lettuce and peas - that's it! I can't even get radish to maturity! Seems a waste of my time, and water, and all the compost that goes into it making a good veggie bed. I've even reverted to, ye gads, chemicals!! Which don't work either. Any advice from a fellow veggie (preferably organic but will take anything) gardener would be most welcome!
Many times insects attack weak improperly nourished plants. Have you had a soil test? That being said, there are certain things that can be done. I have a large 1/4 acre+ garden outside Vancouver and this is my experience: Wide spacing between rows and plants. Intensively grown plants have more competition for nutrients/water and are weakended and susceptible to attack. In addition, closely grown plants provide hiding spots for pests. Wide rows allow good ventilation/sunlight/soil heat and grow larger healthier plants. See Steve Solomon's book "gardening when it counts" for drawings of plant root systems when properly spaced. They spread amazingly wide and deep. Carrots can be grown under floating row covers to avoid carrot fly maggots which tunnel into carrots. I get some carrots that are damaged, but the majority are ok and I don't use row covers, but my soil is properly balanced. I plant my rows 2 feet apart and use pelleted seed that is easy to space 2-3 inches apart. Turnips/brassicas will eventually outgrow the root maggots that attack their roots if properly nourished. Beets/potatoes/beans normally have no problems besides mice. Do you have problems with them? Corn doesn't normally have problems except for cool weather Slugs can be controlled by disrupting their habitat/hiding places. Radishes are a lost cause for me unless grown very early in the year as soon as the soil can be worked. I guess you'll have to be more specific on the problems you face.
