I have my first garden at my new house. I am currently harvesting cucumbers, green beans, and a few carrots. (I live in Alabama) Over the last few weeks my veges have been getting very bitter and I don't understand why. Can anyone offer some thoughts?

Hmmmm. I would have ventured to guess something in the soil, but you say the veggies have just begun to get bitter the last few weeks, which leads me to believe that they tasted fine earlier, so then I don't think it's the soil.

Which leads me to my second 2-part guess - a combination of high temperatures coupled with the fact that perhaps the vegetables you're harvesting are over-mature?

For starters, carrots prefer relatively cool temps. As far as the cukes & beans, how large are they when you pick them?

One more thing - have you been applying any sort of pest control, organic or otherwise?

And yet one more thing - lol!

I was perusing another gardening board & came across someone who was questioning why their cucumbers were bitter. Several people chimed in that bitter cucumbers come from not enough water.

What's your watering schedule like?

Also, where are you located? It's hard to give advice if we don't know in what area of the country you live.

I found with lettuce, that I have to keep the soil well fed...or they taste bitter. Maybe that applies to your veggies....perhaps the soil needs a boost.

My carrots never go from sweet to bitter....so maybe with them it is the heat???(I never get heat)

I don't know a thing about beans but if they are like peas...picking them at the correct time makes a giant difference in taste.

If you go back to the OG home page and use the search function there, type in "bitter cucumbers" and the first article you get will be this one

http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-16-1576,00.html which was headlined on the main page until last Saturday.

it explains why cukes can taste bitter, and what to do about it.

If any fruit, and most all vegetables are really fruits because you eat what the plant produces not the plant itself, can taste bitter if not ripe enough so the sugars that make the flavor better, not bitter, do not get a chance to develop. However, that can also be an indication that there might be a nutrient deficiency in the soil, or the plant could not get some needed nutrients because the soil was to dry.
Since all plant problems come back to the soil, what is your soil like? How much organic matter is in that soil? How well does it retain moisture and how well does it drain? Is your soil Clay, Sand, Loam? What percentage of each does that soil contain? How many earthworms per shovel full do you see, when you do dig? What does your soil smell like? What did your last soil test tell you about your soils pH and nutrient load?

Also do all of your harvesting in the early morning when its cool.

In my experience with carrots, kale, radishes, and chard, heat stress is what causes them to taste bitter. The same variety, grown in the same soil taste quite different when grown during cooler times of the year. Mulching the beds heavily during summer has helped all my plants stay healthier and maintain a more even moisture level (also reducing my need to water - a primary benefit in my book). I would recommend doing that for your cukes and summer veggies which actually like some heat.

Thank you to everyone who responded. Sorry for my delay in getting back to you all but I must work for a living. First I live in Huntsville Alabama. I have discovered that carrots do not grow well here and I will not put them in again next year. Second, I let a weed get out of control and it is mixed with the carrots and I believe it is having an affect in the carrots. Third, I did harvest the carrots in the afrternoon in the midst of a hot dry spell. I got a book on organic gardening and I am sure that I will do much better with the garden next year.