Help! First garden, whats wrong?

[WMT]

I am hoping some of you can chime in and help me with my first garden. I started this year with two 4x4 raised beds, six inches deep, filled with Mel's mix, and attempted the square foot gardening method. The bottoms have weed block laid. I applied organic fertilizer two months ago, none since. Everything is on drip.

A couple months ago I expanded with two 3x12' beds, that are mostly peat, steer manure, and a little top soil. Mainly corn in there, and it is doing okay despite the crowding.

The Mel's mix seemed to do okay for a couple months, but the last couple months it has steadily been slowing and showing signs of stress. What is going on?

New beds are doing okay:
[img]https://img850.imageshack.us/img850/7439/1000467.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img37.imageshack.us/img37/5296/1000453u.jpg[/img]

Old beds are not looking so good:
[img]https://img594.imageshack.us/img594/9022/1000456f.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img153.imageshack.us/img153/9509/1000454d.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img194.imageshack.us/img194/9625/1000462i.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img51.imageshack.us/img51/2847/1000455t.jpg[/img]

Old cucumbers on the left, new cucumbers in potting soil on the right:
[img]https://img20.imageshack.us/img20/5201/1000466s.jpg[/img]

Tomatoes seems to be doing okay?
[img]https://img197.imageshack.us/img197/6258/1000460m.jpg[/img]

Jalapenos have always looked this bad, Cantaloupes have really slowed their growth, seems like they have been this big for a few weeks:
[img]https://img534.imageshack.us/img534/8485/1000459r.jpg[/img]

Help Please!

[DoubleDogFarm]

WMT,

A warm welcome to Helpful Gardener.

I will start by saying, I think the weed barrier maybe some of the trouble. 6" of soil maybe ok for leafy vegetables, lettuce, spinach etc. Larger plants would like deeper beds, more like 18".

You could remedy this problem by removing the weed barrier and letting the roots penetrate the native soil.

I'll start with this and see what others think.

Eric

[Kisal]

I agree with Eric. Six inches of soil simply won't allow the plants to develop large enough root systems. They can't absorb sufficient nutrition to support the top growth and developing fruit. You would have to destroy your plants in order to remove the weed barrier at this point, though. An alternative would be to feed the plants weekly with a fertilizer high in phosphorus -- the middle number on the label. Make your fertilizer solution very weak, though, about 1/4 what is recommended on the label. Fertilizers contain salts, and when applied frequently, there is a risk of the salts building up in the soil and damaging the roots, so you want a weak solution.

Foliar feeding the plants with compost tea might be a safe alternative, if you have compost available to make the tea with. I'm not sure what the phosphorus content of compost is, though. That's what's needed to support the fruiting process. I'm sure other members will offer more information for you.

Welcome!

[WMT]

Thanks guys,
I'll be moving the boxes and switching to cool season veggies soon, so I will be sure to remove the weed block. The box of corn does not have weed block. Hopefully I will be back with good news this fall!

[jal_ut]

The bottoms have weed block laid.

I would remove the weed block next season. Plant roots will go very deep.
[url=https://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010137veg.roots/010137toc.html]Check This Out[/url]

[rainbowgardener]

Agree with everyone else, not nearly enough soil, which is probably now getting pretty exhausted.

Here's a thread one of the mods cynthia did about Square Foot Gardening


https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=143196

Note her comment in there that she used the Mel's mix and the recommendation of 6" of soil and found that 6" of soil wasn't nearly enough.

[garden5]

After you remove the weed block, you could probably add on another "level" of sides to the beds, so that you will have deeper soil. Just make sure they reinforce the side since all that dirt is a lot of weight pressing against the sides of the bed.

[CreateYourGoodLife]

I have found that most bought soils are pretty good for the first few months and then get exhausted, like most of the others above said. However I would really be trying to include lots of organic material into the soil. Things like well rotted manures and home made compost. This will improve the moisture and nutrient holding capacity of the soil.

The bought soils I have seen tend to leach their nutrients out very quickly, plus their pH drops which locks up a lot more minerals. Again add lots of organic matter and maybe do a pH test.

[Molokai_Bernie]

I agree with other postings that suggest soil depth limitation is likely causing you trouble. One thing you might try, if you haven't already, is some supplemental feeding with a foliar solution in the rooting area and on the leaves. Miracle grow general purpose foliar is useful I have found. Follow the label but drenching near the roots is usually the most helpful.

Off hand, I was impressed with your first crop of watermelons (and the rest of your garden for that matter) . Very promising. Keep it up!