New to vegetable gardening

Hi everyone I am new to gardening. I built a raised vegetable garden and half filled it with the soil from the ground. I topped it with triple mix blend (compost manure, humus and peat moss). I mixed in vegetable food 5-10-10 that looks like pebbles. I then planted Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, basil, Italian sweet peppers, jalapeno peppers and cucumbers. I did plant a week or so later than I should have, so I am hoping it will grow. Do I need to sprinkle more vegetable food on top around the plants? What else would be a good idea to do? I am new to all of this so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Here are a couple of pictures.

How big is that raised bed?

You might wanna sprinkle a handful of Dolomite lime around each of the tomato plants and water it in. Calcium to help offset any Blossom End Rot that might try to happen.

Then, be patient, and let everything do its thing...

You did well...

From my experience, those ply-grade wood panel will not last very long. I tried using those in Florida where it rain a lot and had to replace it in less than a year. But it's fine if it didn't cost you much, I probably would add another layer to it. I ended up using 2 by 6 planks.

There are so many gardening method, so you'll get a different answer from who you ask. But to me, it seems like a great starting point since you used a good amount of compost and have good soil depth. It look like your bed is about 2ft in depth which is quite tall for a raised bed, in which case I would plant the tomatoes deep as possible for more root growth.

Here in Florida, I mulch everything with woodchips because its so hot and water is expensive, the mulching help with water retention and increase microbes activity near the surface. I'm not sure if it's required in Canada since I don't know the climate where you are. You just have to be careful to not mix the woodchip into the soil since tie use up nitrogen while they're breaking down.

I personally prefer to have my plants more crowded and I like the concept of square foot gardening. One thing I'm trying to do this year and plant more pest deterring plants and relying less on organic pest control sprays. There are list of plants for this purpose, but you can consider planting more herbs (thyme, rosemary, sage), onion and garlic and such in between your main crops. Just don't plant invasive herbs like mint.

This message was edited Jun 16, 2015 11:45 AM

I missed that you used plyboard for the boxes. Maxjohnson is correct in that they will deteriorate pretty quickly....

As a beginner, I started out purchasing pressure treated 2x8s for my raised beds. Averaged around $37/bed. Then, as I grew in knowledge and experience, I discovered how to make raised beds practically for FREE, using recycled and reclaimed materials, particularly cedar fence pickets from the lumber yard. You can even sandwich them together in a double layer for added strength. And, it seems to take them forever to rot -- oh, I forgot -- they DON'T rot!

I'm the queen of piecing together enough good sections of culled cedar pickets to make a raised bed, LOL! Also, I can spot a construction site from 10 miles away, make friends with the contractors, and collect all the trash pressure treated lumber they don't want to pay to have hauled away!

Also, Google Ana White's $10 Raised beds.

I think your spacing is spot on. Always set your plants with how big they will actually be in mind. Visualize the full-grown plant, and you'll know exactly how far apart to plant them as seedlings. That way, you won't have them strangling each other and competing for sunlight when they're mature, especially the tomatoes.

You did well...

P.S. Your raised beds really only need to be a minimum of 8" deep for just about everything. The roots will find their way downward and open up the ground below. Two cedar fence pickets set on top of each other give me a depth of 11.5". So, when you make your next beds, you can scoop out half of what you have in that first one, LOL! Saves you $$$...

Finally, start making your own compost with leaves, coffee grinds, and your veggie peels from the kitchen.
It can become the basis for filling your raised beds. Watch Patrick Dolan (oneyardrevolution) on YouTube. He's a $$$$ conscious gardener, who's using FREE local resources to support his extraordinary small backyard garden that's producing mega-food harvests...

Hugs!

This message was edited Jun 16, 2015 12:24 PM

If you are in an area that has a high Ph (alkaline) you don't need to add dolomite or any type of lime it will only make the Ph higher, which you don't want.

Yeah, what 1lisac said.

Thanks, Lisa! Forgot he should check that pH first!

In between the crops that grow for a long time you can plant crops that grow in a short time.
Carrots
Beets
Radishes
Lettuce
and others.
By the time the tomatoes, peppers and other large plants need the space, you will have harvested the quick little things.

To add more ferts or not- I would not, too soon. If you read the label and used that much, that tends to be a luxury amount- they want you to use it up and buy more.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. To answer your questions:

@Gymgirl Bed size approx: 2 ft tall x 2 1/2 ft depth by about 8 1/2 ft long. Thanks for the idea of the new material for my garden for next year.

The reason I used the plywood is just temporary for this year. We found free pressure treated palates for free so we wanted to do a cheap garden. If it works out I will be buying better wood next year and reuse the soil we created this year for 2 shorter gardens since I have lots of soil now. It is held together with 3x3 poles in the corners and 4 more in the 2 center seams as well as 2x1s across the depth of those seems. We didnt have a lot of money this year since we just bought the house but I wanted to start something. And we didnt have a proper saw to cut the panel's shorter to make a shorter box, so we just left them.

The soil in our yard seems to be very clay like. Soaks water up like a sponge and is very sticky when wet. In this area there is a lot of limestone but we are in wine country so I am hoping the soil is good.

I have started a compost using a big Rubbermaid with holes drilled all over and I put weeds, grass clippings and extra soil so far. Will be using our vegetable/fruit scraps. I have since built a lower bed about 2 1/2x2 1/2 to the left of the raised bed that is just surrounded with bricks as a border. I planted 2 raspberry plants and 2 butternut squash. I also dig up a section about 8 feet away and mounted up manure and planted 3 pumpkin plants for eating pumpkins. We will see if they take. If not, I figure this is a starting point and I can do more research by next year.

@Diana_K Great idea to put in quicker growing vegetables in between. I just didnt want to get ahead of myself and crammed too many things together and nothing grows.

Where would I get soil tested for Ph?

Hi Raisintosser, Plant a couple of Marigolds in the raised beds to deter bugs away from your vegetable plants.

Try to avoid having the pressure-treated wood coming in contact with your soil or plants due to the chemicals it can leach into your soil. Lots of great growing area on the cheap.

Not to worry about using pressure-treated wood -- unless you're using 10+-year-old railroad ties that still contain arsenic...

I've used PT wood since 2007, and no ill effects, to date, to the plants or the planter...

Many, many, many reports have been released, okaying PT wood for veggie gardens...

Jus' sayin...

If you are in an area with limestone I can almost guarantee that you don't need more lime. I would leave everything as is. The plants will tell you if there are problems, then you can come back to DG and get several different answers. Lol

Your area sounds much like mine ie very sticky mud, limestone and growing grapes. I doubt you will have a problem with things not growing.

Clay soil is really good in one way:
It holds the fertilizer very well for the plants to get the fertilizer. Look into Cationic Exchange Capacity.

In most other ways it needs some help.
Mix as much organic matter with it as you can. Compost, leaves, lawn clippings, manures...
If you can get a 50% soil + 50% organic matter blend at least 6" deep you can grow all sorts of things. Add more organic matter each year as the old material decomposes.

Never walk on the improved soil.