Raised Bed Garden questions

[dilli]

many have said this is a strange summer... folks all over have complained about their beans. Much of country has been high heat, little moisture or drowning... unfortunately neither of these are good for any garden... raised beds, while nice, suck nutrients going for natural or organic is difficult unless you have the means to create your own fertilizers... not sure where ya are but i am in n ga and our onions, both green and bulb do much better in the fall and spring rather than as summer crops...

[TyrannyUnleashed]

elittle and Rmplstlskn


It could be my soil. When I made my raised beds, I purchased Sphagnum Moss, Cow Manure, Vermiculite, and Top soil. I wanted the garden to be as organic as possible. There has been no additional fertilizer added at all.
And I only sprayed (Pesticide) once, due to a severe outbreak of caterpillars on the tomatoes and the peppers.

And make no mistake the soil is very loose all the way to the ground. In fact, I had to put stakes on my corn to keep the wind from blowing it to the ground.

This has really been a frustrating summer. I wanted to save money. But instead, I am going to the farmers market more than I have ever before (I’m canning food for the first time). And that really doesn’t save me money. But at least I know I’m buying from local farmers (this is important as well).

[Rmplstlskn]

My experience with the onions, beans and corn sound like yours... Onion stalks fell over before onions were as big as they were supposed to be. Beans have blossums but as of yet failed to produce. They were attached to the corn, which was a miserable failure. I ended up just a few days ago ripping the dwarfed & deformed corn out with the beans attached. The dead stalks were no longer supporting the beans and it all went to downhill from there.

My tomatoes produced but I planted them too close and I started to get some kind of disease that started at the lowest branches and began to go up. But I did get a decent crop out of them, enough to realize that too many tomatoes, due to their acidity, was not good for my body system, messing with digestion and acidic urine, feeling like a mild urinary tract infection. I will plant a lot LESS tomotoes next year and focus on something else...

My lettuce and spinach did amazing though, while it lasted... Wish they were a year round crop...

So I feel your pain... As I told anyone who would listen, "If I had to survive on my garden, I would be DEAD..." I have said that for several years in a row now and unless I become a student under a master gardener, or someone just as good, I am claiming my BROWN THUMB award and reconsidering my garden plans...

I think with my garden, the problem is the SOIL... And it may be with yours as well. I plan to get it tested by a real lab in the fall...

[610Alpha]

I am no expert, 2nd year gardener, but I did a raised bed this year based off of what I learned from Len Pense (near the Ozarks). I watered mine every day, used organic fertilizer, and Azomite (trace minerals and elements). Garden size was 4 x 16. Picked beans off my bush plants several times, same for cucumbers, lots of green onions, baby carrots to be picked, and beef master (Indeterminate variety).

My growing media: Cotton Burr Compost, Parboiled Rice hulls, and Peat Moss. Very loose soil, doesn't compact like regular dirt does, I can stick my hand through the soil all the way to the bottom when I want.

I am reading a book by John Jeavons (worth the read IMO) that has a lot of info on gardening, companion planting, double dig method, organic fertilizer etc.



Did you use any fertilizer? Sounds like they got a quick shot and then just stopped...this isn't the first time this year I have heard this so their might be something going around...dunno.

[TyrannyUnleashed]

I had decided this year to grow a vegetable garden to help off-set the price of food costs. I started late (end of May) for my area. I made four 4X4 square foot garden beds, due to the heavy clay we have as soil.

Things started off like gang busters, but then went south in a hurry. I’m hoping that some of you more experienced gardners may be able to let me know where I went wrong.

First bed…

Green Beans ( I think Blue Lake); I thought they were bush beans, but I quickly found out that they are pole beans. I then place four tomato cages inside the bed to give the vines to grab on to, as I didn't have any kind of trellis. They are spreading all over the place now, but I have yet to see Green Bean number one.
They seem to be healthy but some of the lower leaves have fallen off (only if they are close to the ground).

Second bed…

Tomatoes (early Girl and Roma), Green onions, and Carrots ;

Forget the Green Onions, they have never taken off and there is only a couple of very small ones still there (less then two inches in height). But the Tomatoes are growing like wild flowers, and they were, at first producing fruit. But then the fruit would ripen way too early and would not taste right due to the immaturity of the fruit. Now the plants are still growing just fine (even flowering) but no new fruit is developing.
I have grown Tomatoes for years and have never seen this lack of production before.

Third bed…

Corn (Silver Queen (White)) and Bulb Onions (Texas 10/18);

The Onions appear to be doing fine (maybe). The Corn, I thought was doing good, as ears of corn had grown, then all of a sudden they stopped maturing just like the tomatoes.
I picked a small dry ear yesterday and found out that it was completely dry and worthless. So now I am stuck with miniature ears of immature corn, and I’m afraid they will be just as bad as the tomatoes.

Fourth bed…

Bell peppers, Hot Banana peppers, and Jalapenos’;

First the Banana peppers have been losing a lot of leaves from the bottom branches, but they have done OK (not great), as far as production goes. I have yet to taste them, but they look normal.

The Jalapenos’ are doing fantastic in growth and production.

The bell peppers (green, red, and yellow), have been growing Okay, but have also shown a lot of leaf loss. I originally had all of the green bells with fruit on them, but all of a sudden the fruit started to turn way (way before) to early. In fact they were turning red at about three inches of length. If that wasn’t bad enough, they all have a big brown spot on them. The spot does not appear to be due to an insect, but something else. Now my red and yellow peppers are producing, and the same thing is happening. To add insult to injury, each plant has produced exactly one fruit each :-( Then it would wilt for a few weeks, before flowering again. Just to produce nothing.

I also have three pots for vegetables,

The first is a Cayenne pepper plant. This has done great and will give me some good Cayenne pepper powder, once I finish dehydrating them.

Then I have two additional Tomato plants (Beef Master?) They have been growing like crazy along with flowering, but not one fruit has even been produced at this point.


Please if any of what I have mentioned raises red flags to what I may be doing wrong, please feel free to give me suggestions. Not for this year, but maybe for next year anyway.