Square foot garden had bad results

[irman]

Originally Posted by Paka

unfortunately I think our HOA would stroke out if I did something like that in my back yard,

Does your HOA really control what you do in your back yard ?

I have heard of some strange and really strict rules of HOA's but your back yard ??

[sfg4uKim]

You are probably pretty frustrated. When you put the Mel's Mix into your raised bed did you put in 2" then water, 2" then water, and the final 2" and water? We find the biggest failure (I'm a certified instructor) is that people don't follow this critical step. After you get the peat wet you only need to maintain the moisture.

I would not recommend tilling it in with our existing soil - that defeats the purpose of making it.

Hope this helps.

Kim
FB: Square Foot Gardening 4 U

[AK-Cathy]

A couple of things come to mind based on your posts:

1) The clay layer is holding too much water and presents an impervious layer giving roots nowhere to go causing plants to either drown or become stunted because of lack of root structure.

2) Are you anywhere within the root zone of a Black Walnut tree? If so the toxin emitted by that tree called juglone could be acting as a natural herbicide stunting your plants. Even downhill from a tree is enough to cause poor performance.

3) Your compost was contaminated with herbicides and this can happen with "organic" compost so try this test before reusing it on other garden beds. How to Test Compost for Herbicide Contamination | Rodale's Organic Life

More info on this subject: Killer Compost Update: Herbicide Damage Still a Major Problem - Organic Gardening - MOTHER EARTH NEWS

I make my own compost, even in a typical suburban yard. I never buy bagged compost or compost from municipal sources. I have visited compost facilities and the weak link is the input sources. Grass clippings contaminated with herbicides 2-4D and others, contaminated hay fed to animals the herbicide passed through the animals that ingested it to make contaminated manure to sources that I haven't heard of yet. Compost that uses sewage sludge are full of heavy metals.

In Washington state a number of organic facilities were substantially damaged by herbicide contaminated animal manure. The animals in question had eaten feed contaminated with herbicides (weed killers) used when that feed was grown and the chemical was excreted unchanged into their manure. Unfortunately the farmers only found out after their normally happy crops were damaged. I lean in your case to external contamination but all three could be a problem. Do your testing rather than ready, fire, aim and good luck this year.

[Cambium]

Lots of great posts I'll try to keep mine short.

In my experience lack of yields is mostly weather & soil related.

Last year while we had a cold Spring and Cooler than normal summer, but that shouldn't be the reason for 1 tomato. So weather is out.

Soil. Go get it tested and more importantly make sure there's no grubs or diseases in it. Like someone mentioned... maybe too much of what you added burned and stressed the plant.

Make sure it doesn't get too wet.

Lastly... Rotation. Rotation. Rotation. (if possible)

[Cambium]

Or maybe the squirrels got all your tomatoes and left you just 1 all year. LOL