This is my third year of vegetable gardening. In the first year I had one raised bed. The squash grew like crazy and even covered quite a lot of lawn. The next year, we added another small bed and bought third-way mix to fill it with (I read in my local newspaper that that's alright for raised-bed gardening). The plants only grew about 2, 3 inches tall, MiracleGro didn't change anything.
I don't have a lot of knowledge about gardening, it's mostly learning by doing. I figured that tilling the soil should help, so before planting the seeds this year I dug up all my beds at least twice and removed dead roots. I was more careful about sowing times and watering regularly. But still the plants are not growing and have been the same size for several weeks, with yellowish leaves (these are butternut squash). I planted yellow straightneck squash in one separate hill, they've grown a bit bigger and have leaves by now, but are still not as big as some I've seen walking around our neighborhood. I'd like to add that I have another, bigger raised bed that's got the exact same soil (three-way mix) and has had varied results, the beans growing really well (so far) and climbing up on their poles, while the zucchini squash, bell peppers, kohlrabi and leek (from left on the second picture) are growing only slowly.
Do any of you have some good advice for me, so that I might still have at least a little bit of a harvest later this year? I bought a bag of MiracleGro organic soil, does it help to add some on top of the existing soil, or would I have to rake it in?
Thank you so much!
I'll leave for someone else to elaborate. I tried Alaskan Fish fertilizer once and it smelled too much for my taste. Liquid Kelp will also add to the soil biology and has a much nicer smell -- like going to the beach.
