Ideas for Restoring a Raised Bed Gone to Weeds

[DukeMaverick]

Hi all, first post so bear with me.
Last summer I moved into a house with a 24"X 4" raised bed. At the time the house had been unoccupied for about a year and the bed was completely over grown with weeds etc. I spent some time pulling weeds and even planted a couple tomatoes, zucchini, green onion, chili pepper plant. But with being involved in getting moved and settled into the house I didn't give the plants the TLC they needed. The plants did ok and I got a little fruit from them.

This fall I pretty much let the bed go again and am now trying to get it to a position to plant this spring/summer. I spent last weekend pulling out the dead plants and pulling weeds and I am concerned about a few problems;
-There is a mint plant that has gone wild in the bed and even made its way outside the bed. I pulled as much root out as I could. But am still concerned it'll grow back.
-There are a couple types of 'clover' (not sure exactly what it is) that have also overgrown in the bed. Those I just pulled out as best as I could. But again they are also outside the bed too.
-As I pulled the heavy growth of clover I found a white and yellow 'jelly' substance underneath it. I am assuming it is some sort of fungus/disease. I scooped it and the soil under it up and threw it out.

As for the soil, I have not done a test on it yet. But it seems in decent condition. My thought is I will buy some compost from the local Waste management site and till that into the existing soil.

I am trying to keep this an organic garden and avoid the use of weed killer etc.

Any help/thoughts would be much appreciated!

[Marlingardener]

Welcome to the Helpful Gardener! First of all, you are lucky to have such a big raised bed already in place. It can be renovated with time and a bit of attention.
The mint will be with you--it is almost impossible to eradicate, but it doesn't harm other plants and makes a nice ground cover, saving the cost of mulch.
Clover is good--it fixes nitrogen in the soil. Just dig it in and make sure when it returns that it doesn't go to seed.
The jelly-like stuff I have no idea about. If you could post a photo of it, someone more knowledgeable may be able to identify it and tell you if it's harmful or not.
The weeds you are pulling out are the start of your own compost pile. Add some kitchen scraps and sprinkle a little dirt on it, and you'll have some good compost soon.
Compost from a waste management facility may have things in it you don't want in the garden, especially if you are trying to be as organic as possible. Some of the yard waste used may have been chemically treated and the chemicals usually don't break down and disappear quickly.

[tomc]

Some mushrooms have tidy habit. Others have colorful names like 'dog-vomit slime' (no really thats its name), with less tidy behavior.

All of these are the fruiting body of mushrooms. Just hoe them into your garden, they will go on to wherever good mushrooms go when they die. Discarding them is nigh impossible because the visible part of a mushroom is its tiniest part.

Start now composting. Every new gardener is always a year or more behind their real need for finished compost. All those weeds and spent plants are the beginings of your fertilizer.

[DukeMaverick]

Thanks for the feedback!

That 'mushroom' did look a lot like something a dog would spit up!

Ill have to toss all my scraps in the compost. ( I also started a compost last summer that had been neglected)

It sounds like for this year I will be buying some organic compost from a local store. Outside of a quality compost do I need to be concerned with all the other 'amendments' you can buy for your soil?

[Marlingardener]

Don't worry about "amendments" until you know what you have. Get your soil tested if at all possible. If not possible, don't add anything until your plants tell you what is needed.
When I told you to put kitchen scraps into the compost heap, I should have specified no meat, no dairy because those lead to critter invasions. All sorts of vegetable scraps, egg shells, and fruit bits and pieces are welcome, though!