Are the raised beds staying moist? If so, have they been fertilized at all?

Sometimes new beds don't do so well until at least one crop has been grown in them, particularly if you are feeding only with organics. It takes some time before the microbes convert the organics into food. Once they get this done though it is smoother sailing.

That they germinated, but pooped out after the seedling stage suggests to me they either don't have water or food.

Just guessing of course.

Well I filled the beds with commercial top soil and cow manure with a little mushroom compost. All from bags. ABout 1 part top soil to 1 part manure. In the past this worked well without additional fertilizer.

We've had lots of rain so I haven't really done additional watering. I have not used any fertilizer so maybe that is the issue. I did not use any fertilizer in the rows either though and they were not ammended with manure prior to planting. They were covered with ground cover cloth left from last year.

So the question is, what can I do now? I've transplanted tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and more into these beds. All seem okay but certainly not thriving. Some of the tomatoes look like they have transplant shock even though I hardened them off.

Should I just re-plant the beets, carrots, radish, etc. from seed again in these beds or do you think the same thing will happen. I just have fear of losing everything after working so hard.

I haven't even started beans or squash yet because it has been so cold.

It has been cool here. Unseasonably cool. We are in Western NC and the temps have been in the 60's during the day and 40's at night. Still, it doesn't tell me why the plants in the rows are thriving while my raised beds are not.

So if it takes a while for microbes to convert the organics to food, should I add feritilizer now? If so, what do you suggest?

Many thanks.
Tonia

How did the seedlings die? Are you comfortable making any guesses about them being eaten vs having a fungal disease vs something else? Did they become yellow at all, or look particularly leggy?

Were your amednments from the same sources you have used in the past?

Occasionally someone at our community garden will add too much compost to a bed, thinking that if a little is good, a lot is better. The compost is mushroom/redwood compost from a local provider, and it doesn't stay moist enough (also isn't a diverse enough source of soil ingredients) and these beds inveitably fail - particularly with seedlings. Transplants that can get to the native soil underneath seem to make it after a fight.

I wonder if something similar is going on? Maybe you should dig your beds to mix in some of the underlying soil or something?

Tonia,

Unfortunately while I would like to assist, I really don't have a good idea of what is going on.

While I really hate to recommend this, try some miracle grow (the kind you add to water) and see if things perk up.

If it does then it is a nutrient issue and the beds need time to 'come alive'. Unfortunately this means using a light amount of synthetics for awhile.

It doesn't sound like moisture has been a problem.

We can't rule out disease, but I wouldn't leap to that assumption either given the broad range of plants affected.

I think if it were me I would give the plants a shot of miracle grow and see what happens. If things perk up then by all means replant that which is clearly not going to grow.

Well they didn't actually die. They are just sitting there looking exactly like they did 3 weeks ago. Maybe one or two have grown but the rest are just stunted.

I used bagged topsoil and bagged cow manure from Lowes. I've done this in the past but it was years ago. Once I had topsoil delivered by the truckload but days later lots of weeds grew out of it so this time we went with the sterilized stuff in bags. I did not dig it in with the existing soil very well so maybe that is an issue.

Thanks for your help.
Tonia

Tonia,

As an alternative to miracle grow, you could try bloodmeal watered in as an organic alternative. Sounds to me like the most likely issue is lack of available N. Bloodmeal is the fasting acting source of N I know of.

My raised beds always do better than the regular ones, and I haven't found that they take a season to get good. They start out good! But mine are layered with a very diverse mix of free stuff (wood chips, old produce, manure, leaves, more mixed produce) and a little topsoil leftover from some excavation. I would be suspicious of all your stuff coming in bags from a big store, and it isn't a big mix, so I would agree that there is probably some nutrient lacking.

Grab some used coffee grounds at a Starbucks if you can, nice free addition to your raised beds, supposedly you can spread it right on. Also, can't you get free manure and put that in? I have no idea what happens before they sell it to you, but I am guessing it doesn't resemble cow manure much by the time you put it in your garden. Perhaps some of the good stuff is already gone from the sterilized stuff in bags. Or maybe your soil mix is so sterile it doesn't have good bugs and worms and bacteria and things? Do you see a lot of worms? Good luck on solving the problem.

Marcia