No, the bed doesn't have to be buried. And no, you do not want to use weed barrier underneath. It causes too many problems (water pooling, plant roots don't have access to the existing soil, etc.). When you fill the bed I would mix it in with the existing soil a bit too.

Rodney

Thanks for the quick response :-)

Here is a picture of the plants from last year that I had trouble with. Not many tomatoes on two of the plants and no tomatoes at all on the one. All the blossoms fell off after it flowered. I ended up with blossom end rot on many of the tomatoes. I do not know the exact size of that pot. Maybe 10 gallon.
As far as the raised bed goes. I have a 3' x 6' box. We put it in a good sunny location in my small yard. The soil is Miracle grow organic soil for raised beds from Home Depot. I didn't plan to add anything because I thought it was ready to plant in. I have used Miracle grow tomato food in the past and tried egg shells in the plant hole and I have tried epsom salt for the end rot. I have also added coffee ground all summer to the plants. I did add manure and peat moss to all my potting soil too. If you have any input to give me more fruit that would help. Thanks.

Well I could go into details about the problems with your container plants but since you are using the bed this time that will eliminate many of those problems.

1. Miracle grow organic soil for raised beds is frequently reported to compact badly and drain poorly. It is made to use as an addition to existing soil/dirt rather than alone. The bags say on them not for use in containers and a small raised bed is just a big container. Best to exchange it for Miracle Grow Potting Mix if possible or to at least trade off 1/2 of it for the other if possible.

However it is often recommended that if you are going to use it to mix in with it a good amount of compost (best), perlite or vermiculite or even peat (least good) to loosen it up, prevent the compacting, and improve drainage. I won't even go into all the hoopla over its use of the label of "organic" since all soil is "organic".

2. it provides minimal nutrients and what it does contain are not usable by the plants because they are in an undigested form. Since there is little to no soil micro herd of bacteria in a container or even a new box bed you will have to add nutrients in some form the plants can use and provide them throughout the season. You have numerous options available to you both synthetic and organic. If you wish to use only organics then they will have to be liquid or water soluble in form as they are pre-digested. Organic gardening isn't as simple as just using things that are labeled "organic". It requires a deeper understanding of how plants, nutrients, bacteria, and soil work together.

3. you don't include your location information but it is crucial to understand the relationship between your climate, the time of planting, the stage of plant growth, and blossom drop. It is something we all have to deal with and work around at certain times of the year and at one time or another we all hit a dormant period when the plants simply cannot set fruit.

Some of the causes we can prevent, but the climate effects we cannot. It has numerous possible causes - all stress oriented - but the most common one is air temp and humidity. There is a basic FAQ here on it that discusses the non-viable temp and humidity ranges and ample info on the web. But the bottom line is if the plant is heavily stressed for any reason it will shed blossoms. So you reduce the things you can control and then wait for the weather to cooperate. ;-)

4. "tried egg shells in the plant hole and I have tried epsom salt for the end rot. I have also added coffee ground all summer to the plants. I did add manure and peat moss to all my potting soil too."

The MG Tomato food is fine to use unless you want to go strictly organic. Skip the egg shells as it takes them years to be of any benefit, Epsom salts is only for magnesium deficiency in plants, does nothing for BER which is a water and calcium migration issue, and can be harmful when used incorrectly. Coffee grounds don't hurt anything but provide little benefit to the plants without the bacteria to eat them first. Manure, if it is well composted first does contain some bacteria and so can provide a very low dose of nitrogen and potassium but over a long period of time. Like compost it is primarily a soil amendment added to feed the soil bacteria not the plants. Peat can be a good addition but is also acidic and water repellent so has to be used with some care.

Hope this is of some help to you.

Dave

Dave, I do also have some bags of the Miracle Grow Potting soil that I was going to add the soil. I do not need to organic garden, that is just the dirt they had available to purchase at the Home Depot in my area. I am sorry but I live in Chicago so that is zone 5. I wished I could have spoke with you years ago for all the time, effort money and dirt I have gone through trying to grow tomatoes and peppers in planters. What is the best compost to buy? is cow manure ok to mix in also? I want to start with a great bed of dirt so I can get a good amount of fruit and veggies. Would 3 tomato plants and 3 pepper plants be too many? Should I put in a few flowers for the bees to help pollinate?

Cow manure should only be used if properly composted. Especially if fresh, it has vastly too much urea, and will burn the plants with excess nitrogen. Same goes for any manure.

Tomatoes and peppers are self-pollinating. No bees or bugs needed. Tickle the flowers, and that will help. Seriously.

" What is the best compost to buy? is cow manure ok to mix in also? I want to start with a great bed of dirt so I can get a good amount of fruit and veggies. Would 3 tomato plants and 3 pepper plants be too many? Should I put in a few flowers for the bees to help pollinate?"

Mushroom compost if you can find it. The HD here carries it. They also carry bags of 1/2 & 1/2 composted cow manure and compost if you can't find the mushroom. Like Dan said you never use fresh manure, only well composted.

The start is important but the keeping up with it throughout the season is even more important. As the plants grow the nutrients you start with are quickly used up.

3 tomato plants will be crowded in only 6' depending on the variety you use. That's unless you plan to do a fair amount of pruning them back and sacrifice that fruit production. The normal amount of space for a tomato plant is 3 feet sq. and 2' sq. for a pepper plant. You can crowd them somewhat but you will have to monitor nutrients and water more closely.

Pepper plants do well in pots so I'd save the bed for the 3 tomato plants. 2 indeterminates and 1 determinate variety should fit if you stagger them a bit. But most cherry types are huge plants so their limit would be 2.

But if you do the peppers in the pots then get those black pots off the hot concrete, away from the hot brick wall, and out of that corner where it can get some air.

Like Dan said, no pollinators are needed but you can stick a couple of small flowers in if you wish.

Dave

I'm sure my tomatoes are worth a fortune for all the "stuff". I put in the soil. I live south of houston so that's the other end of the world from you. But I've had the same sort of problems in the past. I've totally stopped using bagged potting mixes. I now use rose soil with no peat moss. I can't get the moisture right with peat. I add leaf mold compost, vermiculite maybe a quart in a pots about the size of. Yours. And organic fertilizer. I water with a weak solution of agricultural molasses and rain water which feeds the bugs in the soil which in turn feeds the plants I try to water with uncholorinated water when possible

i planted in feb so,I'll be lucky to have tomatoes in another month. Too hot already. But I'll plant again in sept. My crop has been terrific this year I,ve kept 8 families in tomatoes. for several weeks now (8 plants). Don't give up. There's nothing in the world like a home grown tomato

Thanks for all the feedback. One more question. How do I know when to add compost or fertilizer to the soil during the growing season? I have been trying to grow tomatoes in planters for some years and I only get a minimal amount of fruit. I learned a lot of things here but I am so unsure that my soil will have the nutrients it will need for the summer so I need to know when to add to the existing bed and what is the best things to add. I do have miracle grow for tomatoes so I will read how often to apply that. I think that I over do something because in the past I have tall green plants to start but not much fruit and then they get stressed somewhere in the real heat of the summer and turn yellow and do downhill. If I put a few peppers in pots should I keep them off the cement and keep them in the shade in the really hot months? I have a very small yard but I do get full sun and shade near the garage area.

First please understand that it is impossible to cover all the possible issues in a forum discussion. A lot of it you simply must learn as you go along. It is how we all did it.

That said, compost and fertilizer are 2 totally different things. Don't think of them as interchangeable. They aren't. When talking about small raised beds and not in-ground gardens, Compost is a soil amendment. It's normally added at the beginning of the season mixed in well with all the soil and that's it. It gets added to the dormant bed again in the Fall and then once more in the early spring before planting. Sure if you have some left over you can always toss it on top of the soil in any bare spots.

Fertilizer, per the label directions of the type you choose, is added to the soil prior to planting. Further additions are then dependent on the type and brand used and the needs of the specific plant. There is no such thing as a set schedule for application possible and trying to set one is often what creates problems. There are simply some very loose, general guidelines.

1. low dose fertilizers can be used more often than those with high N-P-K numbers.

2. Liquid organics can be used more often than synthetics.

3. The smaller the bed/container the more often feeding may be needed as they wash out with watering.

4. The more often the bed/container is watered the more often feeding may be needed.

5. Tomatoes need soil application of approx. 3-1-2 fertilizer approx. every 6 weeks. At planting, after first fruit set, and mid-season.

6. Big plants need more than small plants.

7. etc.

Better yet, just as with watering, one needs to learn to read the plant symptoms, the shape and color of the leaves, discoloring of the leaf veins, anemic colors or overly dark colors, if it is blooming or setting fruit or not or trying to put on new growth. The plant will tell you what it needs but you have to learn to read the signs it is giving you.

"If I put a few peppers in pots should I keep them off the cement and keep them in the shade in the really hot months?"

The point I made about the peppers - only 1 per pot please - is that no plant will do well in a black container, sitting on concrete by a hot brick wall in a corner. It will constantly be cooking from all the heat generated there and the lack of air circulation. It isn't that they need shade but that they can't tolerate all the heat generated in an airless corner surrounded by concrete. The brick and concrete absorb sun heat and then reflect it back so it never lets the plant roots cool down. Black containers absorb sun heat and can cook roots. Paint them white if you can. Cooked, constantly hot roots kill plants. Move them out onto the grass by the bed instead.

Hope this helps.

Dave

The plants you have look great. I did get plenty of very good advise for sure. My bed is 11 inches deep and from what everyone says I should only do two plants in the bed. I will plant this weekend even if we have rain. The weather has not been great in Chicago for planting on the weekends. It has been very rainy and cold. This is my first year with the bed so I hope to do much better than I have in the past with the pots. I am afraid that I may have not fertilized enough in the past years or I did it at the wrong times. I would do a liquid all season and then add handfuls of compost to my pots and mix that in to the top layer of dirt too every so often. I have had much luck with flowers in pots for years but I have never had good luck with tomatoes or peppers in my pots. I will try the bed tis year and hopefully it will pay off. I spend over $200 on dirt and compost for the bed so I hope to get at least a few tomatoes because there is nothing in the world like a homegrown tomato.