Kitchen Garden Forum

Although I've been gardening for decades..this is my first year with a new raised bed. The soil was mainly what was there originally, dug over, with turfs added and topped up with homemade compost.

I've planted root crops - i.e. carrots and beetroot and also leafy veg. i.e. tuscan kale, chard, peas and broad beans and dwarf french beans. I've had good results with all the leafy stuff...plenty of it...and the beans have been wonderful....but the carrots and beetroot have been tiny. Very small roots but absolutely huge leaves.

Do I have too much nitrogen in the soil? Is it the weather? How do I get the balance right? Or should I just stick to growing the leafy crops?

Any advice much appreciated.

Thank you.

Hi Diane,

I successfully grow carrots and parsnips in my raised beds, so being in a raised bed shouldn't be an issue

However, from your description of how you've filled your bed I would suggest that there is simply too much enrichment for the root veg. My OH has a heated debate with me each autumn and spring because I refuse to add manure, compost and fertiliser to any of the beds in which I intend to grow these crops because, from my understanding, they simply don't like it.

Simply put less is certainly more when it comes to carrots and, I assume, beetroots too (although I may be wrong in regards the beetroot)

HTH
VPM
x

Thank you - I did wonder if that was the problem.

Your reply is much appreciated. I'll have another go in a couple of years or so to grow root crops in that area.

This is my first year growing anything edible, I have three raised beds, two of which didn't get any cow-poo compost. The composted bed has beetroot that is looking good but I daren't lift it yet. French beans have been hopeless.

The non composted beds have carrots that are happy but very distorted but the spring-onions didn't make-it.

In fact for my first year my only failure has been French beans and whilst i've been persistently sowing new plants they just do-not look happy in beds where everything else is happy.

Slugs are still a massive problem and though those new-type slug pellets appear to work they don't work on snails which are racing to eat my Purple-broccolli before I get to it.

Meet my new pal Kermit, plenty of frogs here but they're just not hungry-enough.

Great picture