2nd year raised garden not starting well

Hi there,

Last year we grew some nice veggies in two brand new raised beds, well supported (dug 18" down and filled in with good garden soil before planting). We started our raised bed garden for this year in late May, then went out of town for 3 weeks, with a housesitter taking care of house/animals/plants ... only she forgot the plants part :) and our veggies suffered a little bit. Since we've been back (late June) we've been watering, and have planted a few more things, but everything seems a bit ... blah. The sunflowers are flowering but the flowers are shrunken and tight, not open and happy looking; the zucchini doesn't seem to be growing much at all although it has about a dozen flowers; basically everything looks a little worn out and not vigorous.

We are in a "drought" here in Bellingham, so we have been watering every other day with a drip watering system and the plants seem to be getting plenty of water.

We didn't do anything to amend the soil before planting this year, so they are growing in the same soil we used last year. Could that be the problem? What should I do to get the soil up to par and/or help our plants grow and produce? (Is it too late to get enough amendments into the soil to make a difference?)

Thanks!
Jennifer

We've had very high temps (heat index 105-110) and extended drought here too. It hasn't done my garden any good at all--it looks sad too and hasn't produced nearly as well as it normally does. I do think not amending your soil before planting could be part of your problem as well. I like to keep a good compost heap going to amend the soil around permanent crops like my asparagus. For other things, you can buy mushroom compost or cow manure (I prefer Black Kow because it's not half sand like many others). In late fall I like to work leaves into my soil--that's good free compost too.

pacificbay - I can't answer your entire question, but I can tell you that I always add organic fertilizers and compost whenever I set seeds or transplants - even when removing one spent crop and replacing it with something else.

Next spring, I will "top off" each bed with compost/worm castings, turn this in with organic fertilizer, and set seeds or transplants.

If the garden grew well last year and this is the same soil, it may be a bit depleted of nutrients. An application of balanced fertilizer - inorganic or organic, whichever you prefer - could be in order.

This is the place for my question.

Last September, I built two new veggie beds and filled them with a commercial veggie growers blend from Living Earth. Unfortunately, I never planted a single thing in either bed until this past spring when I put one tomato plant and 5 okra plants in 1/2 of one of the beds. I recently dug them out before any of the plants produced anything, and the 2nd bed has never been planted.

Well, I'm relocating and have dug up and moved the two RBs to an entire new back yard. The two beds are combined into one 4'x18' veggie bed, about 11" deep. My question is whether or not I need to amend the veggie blend before I start seeding and transplanting my cole crops? Would the soil become depleted just sitting there?

If I need to amend, what should I be adding? I've used Black Kow Composted Manure before, but this last season the stuff was just gloppy mud! I have a compost pile filled with leaves, but they haven't started breaking down yet. I also have some garbage bags of leaves that have been sitting since last summer. They might've started breaking down by now, but I haven't looked yet.

With the move, I'm on a tight budget. I already have some bags of bloodmeal, bonemeal, Alaska fish emulsion, and phosphorous. I also have Triple 13 fertilizer. Please lmk so I can start prepping the bed for sowing and transplanting starting around mid-September.

Thanks!

Linda

Linda, if it were me, I would plant my fall stuff and wait and see how they did. If they don't look like they are growing right or the color isn't right, I would use some of the blood meal or bone meal on them. Just a suggestion, because I fertilized some stuff this summer and got all vines and no fruit.

Bro. Jim,
That makes sense. Probably should not try to fix it, if it ain't broke, huh?

I was up until 2:30 this morning potting up a tangled mess of pitiful, leggy little cabbage seedlings. It was actually good therapy...

But, this will be an experiment in whether deep rooting cabbage seedlings actually works. I researched and did it with my Sweet Bell Pepper seedlings in January, and they grew fabulously. We shall see if these cabbages beef up in a hurry, for an October plantout.

I potted them into 16 oz. Red Solo cups, in 100% coco coir. Poor, straggly little things...

It will be interesting to see how your cabbages do. My broccoli seedlings were also skinny and long so I planted them deep with the dirt all the way up to the second set of true leaves.

Quyen,
When did you pot up your broccoli seedings, and how are they doing today?

I planted them out a week ago...so far they haven't shown any significant growth. I will give them some fish fertilizer the next time I water.

Hey, Quyen,
A couple of my cabbages bit the dust to damping off, but the rest seem to be holding on. I've been bottom watering them with a week solution of MG soluble and epsom salts. Will be adding a capful of hydrogen peroxide to, to stave off further damping off.

I have them under fluorescent lights that are literally sitting on top of the cups. I need to raise the lights, cause they throw off heat, and it gets warm for these brassicas. I ran a small fan on them last night to help blow off some of the heat.

Linda

You are SO dedicated, Linda. I would not have the desire and patience to do all of that. Good thing I live in a warm place and don't really need heat mats and lights to start my seeds.

Quyen,
I think I just love beating the odds, and the challenge of seeing if I can actually end up with something edible.
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Gymgirl - if I were in your position, I would sprinkle the fertilizer over my planting beds just before setting transplants, work it into the top six inches, and then set the plants.

Organic fertilizers take awhile to break down, so the nutrients should be available to your plants right about the time they need them most.

If you know the former gardedning used organic growing methods, then the soil probably still holds many nutrients. If they used chemical fertilizers then they could possibly have been washed away by rain or irrigation water.

I have found running a lawn mower over dry leaves enough times so they are the size of my little finger nail when I'm done lets them break down quickly. Just put a thin layer around your transplants and let Mother Nature do the rest.

Hey HoneybeeNC!
Thanks for the tips. The RB veggie garden I'll be transplanting to is actually two of my own RBs that I've relocated to the temporary housing where I'll be until I get back into my own home sometime in mid-October.

The soil was a purchased commercial veggie growers blend that I've since amended with organic additives (Black Kow composted manure, my homemade compost and some leaf mold). The soil in the beds has never been used to grow anything. They've sat empty since last September...