Help for my failing vegetable garden

[lilac05]

I planted our raised garden late Spring, after the last frost.  I have watered it consistently, fed it veggie garden food, it gets plenty sun...but NOTHING is growing!  We bought raised bed soil from Home Depot, and I am wondering if that’s the problem.  Any suggestions of what I can do to salvage things?  My pepper plants haven’t grown an inch in the 6 weeks they’ve been in there, nothing looks bright green, it’s all kind of...dark?  Even my zucchini and cucumbers are still about 3” tall.  Those I know are my issue, as I gave seedlings at the same time to a friend who planted hers elsewhere and they’re doing great.

[Deleted]

I'm really new to veggie gardening, so I decided to google your problem and found this: www.houzz.com/discussions/4721617/vegetables-not-growing-in-new-raised-beds might be some helpful information in there for you.

[lilac05]

Jun 18, 2020 11:09:09 GMT -5 @sameoldstory said:

I'm really new to veggie gardening, so I decided to google your problem and found this: www.houzz.com/discussions/4721617/vegetables-not-growing-in-new-raised-beds might be some helpful information in there for you.

Thanks!  That gives me some ideas...now to figure out which one(s) to follow! LOL.

[simpsongal]

My guess is they're not getting enough sun. And/or are you in a cold climate? What zone are you?

[lilac05]

Jun 18, 2020 12:07:07 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

My guess is they're not getting enough sun. And/or are you in a cold climate? What zone are you?

I’m 5B.  They’re in a wide open spot in our back yard.  They get full sun from about 10AM-almost sunset.  We’ve had a few cool days (High 70ish) earlier in the month, but it’s 90° several days this week.  

I wonder if they got too much water.  They’re in one of those “self-watering” gardens, and I don’t always drain it so they can re-absorb the water with the nutrients that have washed out of the soil...but maybe I’ve let too much stay in there.  The top layer gets really dry, but I assume it’s pretty wet below. 

I can’t/couldn’t even get lettuce to grow!  (And now it’s too hot to expect it to do much of anything.)  Tiny little leaves poked up, but they haven’t gotten any bigger than a pencil eraser.  They’re still alive, just not growing.

[dutchgirl678]

How far below the surface is the wetness? Maybe they are not getting enough water? But if that were the case, they would be withering away and it doesn't sound like that.

[lilac05]

Jun 18, 2020 13:15:02 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

How far below the surface is the wetness? Maybe they are not getting enough water? But if that were the case, they would be withering away and it doesn't sound like that.

It feels damp just below the surface.  The zucchini and cucumber leaves almost look yellow, which I know usually means too much water.  The thyme that is in there is almost brown.  Alive, but very dark and not growing.  (I put some thyme in a different pot that is growing a little better.  Same soil, but better drainage...still darker than usual.)  My peppers haven’t even formed a new set of leaves since I planted them.  

1/3 tomato plants growing in separate terra cotta pots is doing decently.  The other two are not.  One isn’t growing at all and is very dark.  The other has grown some, but is also very dark, almost brown.

[wilmaflintstone]

Is the lettuce leaf or head lettuce? It might need thinned, pull out some of the plants. It also sounds like your plants might not be getting enough water. Raised beds don't hold moisture well, are you watering every day? Tomatoes need a gallon of water every day. Post pictures if you can, of the plants themselves and the bed set up overall.

[scottcool]

My garden is doing well, not to brag but in order for me to try and see what's wrong on your end i'll explain what I have going on and i'll let you see if you spot a difference especially since I am growing the same stuff you are. Im in zone 9, I have raised beds and containers. I have my garden spaced to my plants get around 8 or more hours of sunlight a day. I water, pick, and pest control daily. I lightly spray each plant for watering and water until I see the soil start to puddle, I water extra or more when the plant starts to produce vegetables. I check for pest regularly and remove the ones I see and daily (I might skip a day here and there) lightly spray my plants with Trifecta Crop Control(Only between sunset and sun rise). My soil is store bought from Lowes so nothing special there. I've had an issue this year with pest so I've used store bough pest granules to sprinkle on the soil. Hope this helps.

[lilac05]

I’m not sure how to attach a pic anymore, but everything just looks pathetic. Nothing has grown even an inch! In fact, I just found a pic from a week or so after I planted and several things are smaller due to the deer having a snack. The tallest things in the garden are about 4”.

I thought they had been overwatered because the plugs were closed, so the bottom soil was too wet. I drained that and have been just watering from the top now, but I think it’s just too late. I think it’s a problem with the raised bed and water retention as well as the soil not being the greatest. I’m going to try feeding things again, but I’m about to rip things out and just give it up for the season.

One of my tomatoes in a separate pot has a few blooms, so maybe it won’t be a total loss. Those are going to be some really expensive tomatoes! LOL.

wilmaflintstone, I did thin the lettuce after reading your post.  Thank you!  Now I’ll wait and see if that helps!  

scottcool, I think I’ve done everything you have, with the exception of the pest control.  Nothing has been hit by any bugs yet.  Just a quick snack by the deer once (but that’s obvious when they’ve been around!).  I’ve had a successful raised garden in the past, but it was at our old house.

[Patsy Baloney]

It’s not a loss, you just might not get tomatoes and peppers - they’re slow under the best conditions!

I don’t have much experience with raised beds and none with self-watering stuff. I think I would probably pivot at this point to things with shorter growing seasons. Get yourself lots of green bean seeds, cucumber, squash, even some cooler weather favorites like radishes, peas, lettuce and hold those until it is closer to the fall for one last harvest.

With your description of plants that are too dark - are they purple? Is it maybe a phosphorus deficiency? Although, with new soil and fertilizing, I don’t know how that’s possible, unless too much water has caused the issue maybe with uptake.

I’ll be honest, I treat my garden like a cat. You cannot let it know how much you love it/want it to love you. I’ve found that if I love it too much, it rejects me. Things keel over, start to die. If I neglect it just a little bit - let it dry out between rains and show signs of wilting, hold off on fertilizing until a plant shows me it needs something - it will boom.

[nicolewi]

I'm agreeing with maybe too much water?? What kind of soil did you use? could it be something with the soil itself??

I'm in the same zone (5 for sure, I think 5B), and my garden really doesn't get much attention, and stuff still grows. I plant it in the ground, it gets just part sun, and I water/weed less than I should. I usually don't fertilize at all, although I mix some composted manure/peat into the soil in spring. I have found it to be pretty forgiving, so for you to be struggling this much has to have something to do with the soil or water in the enclosed bed. If you have full sun as you described, stuff should really be growing like crazy!

[lilac05]

Jun 27, 2020 0:57:14 GMT -5 nicolewi said:

I'm agreeing with maybe too much water?? What kind of soil did you use? could it be something with the soil itself??

I used a raised bed mix from Home Depot.  I think it’s a less than awesome mix (it seems very woody) and too much water.  I’ve got the water fixed now, but it’ll just be a matter of time to see if anything rebounds or if it’s just too far gone.  

ETA:  It looks like it’s not too late to plant zucchini.  I have some extra seeds here.  I think I’ll pull some stuff out and just do zucchini in one and cucumbers in the other.

[hamster]

Jun 27, 2020 23:33:54 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

Jun 27, 2020 0:57:14 GMT -5 nicolewi said:

I'm agreeing with maybe too much water?? What kind of soil did you use? could it be something with the soil itself??

I used a raised bed mix from Home Depot.  I think it’s a less than awesome mix (it seems very woody) and too much water.  I’ve got the water fixed now, but it’ll just be a matter of time to see if anything rebounds or if it’s just too far gone.  

ETA:  It looks like it’s not too late to plant zucchini.  I have some extra seeds here.  I think I’ll pull some stuff out and just do zucchini in one and cucumbers in the other.

Is it woody like unbroken down compost? It's depleting nitrogen if so. We currently have this problem, but miracle grow is helping.

[lilac05]

Jun 27, 2020 23:38:44 GMT -5 hamster said:

Is it woody like unbroken down compost? It's depleting nitrogen if so. We currently have this problem, but miracle grow is helping.

Could be.  We don’t compost, so I don’t really know what it looks like.  Someone else mentioned nitrogen, so I’ll look more into that and see if my fertilizer would address that.