Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi Everyone. I’ve now grown in our inherited raised beds for two years now and for both the yield has been disappointing. First year I was just seeing how things went, then I enriched the soil with well rotted manure so was hopeful this year would be better. Sadly not.

My thought now is to move the beds away from where they currrently are, burn the wood and put together new metal beds somewhere else but the garden isn’t massive and there aren’t too many choices of places to go. If I started over again in the same place do you think I would still have issues?

Thanks

If they are in as good a position as you can give them for light I wouldn't bother with the work of moving them. That leaves two variables, the soil and the watering. Many people had the driest summer for years, our June wasn't dry which made quite a difference to us but if you are in the east of Scotland you probably were dry, are you sure you watered enough? You say you have enriched them with well rotted manure, has that left you with a nice open textured soil or do they perhaps need a bit of sharp sand or grit as well to open them up? Have you used any fertiliser as well? I'd give fish, blood and bone or a base fertiliser a go. I don't use raised beds but perhaps somebody with experience will give you another view.

I found my raised bed was not producing as well as I expected so I did a test hole clearing down to the bottom. It is on soil, & when I got rid of the top layers, the soil underneath was very compacted which I assumed was the weight of the soil on top & also possibly not watering enough to prevent this but on reflection I also I didn't grow any deep rooted crops in them to get roots to the bottom to help.

Might be worth doing a test hole to check maybe. I wouldn't quickly recommend emptying the whole bed to improve as it took me ages to empty mine & break it up, but all done with minimal moaning..well audible anyway. It has currently only got some leeks in it but I will be putting next years parsnip & carrots in as want them to be a good size so will be adding some sand as well. Bonus is these aren't part of the rotation so if OK I will be planting them there for a while.

Thanks both.
I watered everyday so I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the issue and the soil doesn’t seem compacted as I dug it the first year and riddled all the wood chips out of the second year and it seems lovely and friable. However I haven’t grown much in the way of long rooted plants and I didn’t add extra fertiliser to I will try that on different beds and one bed I’ll clear out and check the base soil. Hopefully that will give me an idea of which is the issue.

I definitely think it’s a lack of food, issue, Myyrk….I would give them a good feed with Fish, Blood and Bone……also might need some Lime too, as this can make a huge difference if it is too lower ph.

I'm in North East Scotland and grow mostly in three raised beds, I have noticed some crops begin really well in them then seem to fade away, carrots in particular. Now I crop rotate and have grown veg in the ground for 70 years now(with a short break when I was seeking my fame and fortune with a rock and roll band in London in the early 1970's) so should have some idea. But we are dealing with nature and a very complicated system, so I now grow carrots in pots in new MPC every year, seems to work and I am growing different crops in the raised beds, more potatoes, which seem to be thriving on the three year, manure, compost and fallow method. Broad Beans, Onions, Peas all seem to be thriving, even managed to grow Bulb Fennel for the first time in my life, despite trying off and on for decades, so maybe ring the changes is the answer?