British Columbia: Conflicting results

This spring I built 5 raised beds 4 x8 feet and filled them with Super Soil Compost Based Soil. I am new at this, but I am getting mixed results. I have beans and peas and tomatoes in one box. The peas are 4 feet high and climbing the trellis, the tomatoes are the feet high and growing, and the beans are about 15 to 18 inches high. The corner of the box, about 2 feet by 3 feet has been totally non productive. I planted marigolds and scallions that didn't come up at the same time as the peas and tomatoes. Then I planted carrots and after three weeks, I am seeing a little bit of green in a row.
The rest of the boxes are all struggling-with Swiss Chard about 7 inches high, spinach about 3 to 6 inches high. The Romaine and lettuce that I planted never became anything but a few green shoots 1/2" high. I tilled the ground and replanted, but it was no better. The cucumber plants and other tomato plants are thriving .
I bought a soil testing kit and tested for pH and everything is just below 7.0. The soil test indicated that I am low in K and P in most boxes. The moisture meter I just bought tells me that nearly every box is too wet. I had an auto watering system running for 5 mins a day until about 5 days ago. and I am monitoring the moisture. Does any one have an idea which I should tackle first. I have already cut back on the watering and am monitoring that. Don

 

My first thought was that I needed more information to be sure.

What is on the bottoms of the raised beds? Did you lay landscape fabric down, or are the beds open to the soil beneath? If you laid landscape cloth, did you lay it right side up? Are there stones or anything at the bottoms of the beds, or are they soil all the way down? Did you use actual Sea Soil, or the Sea Soil Container/Potting Mix?

When did you plant your lettuces, chard and spinach? At the same time as the peas?

Keep in mind that some of your issues may be due to the early spring/summer and the very warm temps. Chard, spinach, lettuce etc. may have wanted cooler temps than your beds provided in their early growth -- when it's really hot I have to put my greens containers where they get afternoon shade. Remember that any kind of container, from a raised bed to a flowerpot, is warmer than the ground in the growing season, and colder than the ground in the winter.

If I can get answers to these questions I may be able to help!
keke

 

Hi Three boxes are two 2X8 high and two are 3 2X8 high. Each of the boxes have garden paper lining the sides, but not the bottom. On the bottom of each box is cardboard covered with horse manure and hay and the the box is filled to near the top with what "Super Soil" in Cloverdale calls "Compost based soil." I did plant the peas at the same time as the spinach and the chard, the beans, and the lettuce. The arugula, spinach, and rapini have definitely been affected by the warm May and early June and after they were about 5" high they all went to flowering. (Bolted I think is what that is called). Another thing I am now studying is the amount of water that these boxes maintain or hold. I had started the season watering for about 10 minutes a day with a Lee Valley system that I have in place. Later I cut that down to 5 minutes per day. Lately, I bought a moisture meter and to my surprise, much of the soil 4" below the surface was reading as "wet". I stopped watering and I am monitoring it daily and will resume at a lower rate and monitor diligently for a while. I do thank you for your interest and for taking time to answer my questions. It is very generous of you to do so. Thanks again.

 

My recommendation? First off, stop using the moisture meter. Moisture meters work by measuring electrical conductivity (wet soil conducts better than dry) so they are easily fooled by salts in the soil (if you have fertilized recently, for instance). You are much better off to use a dry bamboo stake -- just jam it down into the bed to check, in a number of places. Don't re-use a hole you've made for this since the walls of the hole will dry faster than undisturbed soil, and don't just focus on around the edges as those will also dry faster. You won't hurt the plants unless you are doing it right near the stems. Pull the stake out; is it wet at the bottom? If so, don't water unless you are trying to encourage baby plants that may not have roots down as far as you shoved the stake. I have a set of several stakes I use in rotation, since starting with a dry stake is essential to this task.

Second, I have had much better results by not using 100% garden soil in any kind of raised bed/container. In containers I use a container mix with coir, and in raised beds I mix container mix with regular garden soil, especially if the beds are open to drain below, as yours are. Garden soil in its raw form relies on soil fauna to keep it aerated, so if there are no earthworms or other soil fauna to do that the soil tends to compact down and impede drainage to the ground below. By putting the hay and manure at the bottom you may have inadvertently made this worse because these also compact as they age, but it wouldn't be consistent. Would depend on how much hay and manure was laid down in each individual spot. By poking the bamboo stakes down into and through that layer you may be able to improve that by opening up air pockets and drainage routes.

Third, where and when did you get the hay and manure? Is the farm organic or transitional? Was it really hay/straw, or was there sawdust in the mix (many horse owners use sawdust in the stalls rather than straw)? Was it aged manure or straight out of the animal? I have in the past received batches of both straw and manure which had had biocides applied for fungus, flies or other issues, which then had an adverse effect on my garden. Also, raw manure contributes to false moisture meter readings because fertilizer is, in essence, salts. And raw manure (especially pig or chicken) is very very high in salts. Last, if there was sawdust in the mix, sawdust "eats" nitrogen as it decays. Leafy greens love nitrogen. If the nitrogen is being robbed by decaying sawdust other plants may do fine but greens may not.

Just some ideas. And in case you think you've made a rookie mistake, you haven't. Tiny changes in variables can get you! That's the challenge and fun of gardening.
cheers
keke

 

Hello-Thank you for your input. Don't sweat the "rookie"stuff; that's what I am and that's why I am asking people like you for help. You have given me lots to think about and I appreciate you taking the time to offer assistance. Thanks Again

 

Down here you could ask USDA Cooperative Extension about sampling your soil and having it analyzed, I don't know what comparable resource may be available in BC. As described above you can produce a toxic environment pouring on inputs trying to stimulate lush growth of vegetable plants etc.

Last fall we collected soil samples from a local or
ganic demonstration garden and sent them out for
nutrient analysis; this garden had recently experienced
some soil and plant health problems. Every single
one of the sites that was tested came back with nutri
ent readings off the scale. In large capital letters the
report warned “DO NOT FERTILIZE THIS SOIL.” Th
e excessive addition of nutrient-rich compost to
this landscape contributed not only
to plant health problems but to
nutrient loading of adjacent natural
waters.

http://puyallup.wsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/soil-amendments-3.pdf

 

Thanks RonB for your input. The soil tests that I took of my soil were somewhat inconclusive, but I have not begun adding any nutrients at this time because I am not sure which way to go just yet. I will wait until the growing season is near the end and then I will have the soil tested so that I know what I have. In the meantime the tomatoes, peas in one of my raised boxes are crazy climbing the trellis(s) and the bush beans in the same box are showing a good crop. I have lots of peas and many tomatoes coming along. I cut way back on the watering and that seems to have kicked everything into gear. I do appreciate your comment, but I am not going to add nutrients until I know what it really needs. I marvel at how little I do know and so comments and suggestions by people like you are very helpful and appreciated. Thanks again.
Don