TKO
Veteran Member
Where I live, the soil is nothing but hard clay. So, years back I built these raised beds. I started off with a great soil mix, then amended the garden soil every year. I even baked it a few times with black plastic in the sun...just leaving it on through winter and through the hot spring. That fixed the weeds pretty good. I don't see as many weeds when I do that. However, my crops have mostly been dismal. The only thing that grows like crazy are the cherry tomatoes. Regular tomatoes...leaves mostly turn yellow/brown then the plant dies off. I even crop the tomatoes so no leaves are anywhere near the ground. I clip off the bad parts and throw that away. Zucchini. I've tried everything to get zucchini to grow. The squash bug and moth are my nemesis. I tried tinfoil around the base, as well as BT. I get maybe 2-3 zucchini off 3 plants. INCREDIBLE! Other than spraying down my garden with chemicals, not sure what to do next. If I do that, I might as well just give up and buy store bought.
I know one thing. I am pulling out these raised beds. I am not seeing enough return on the garden to keep them in and having to mow around them. Maybe I could till up the clay, add in better mixed soil and see if that is better. The boards in the beds are in need of replacement anyway...so I am just going to cut my losses and do away with them.
When I was a kid, we had massive gardens. We once had an acre garden. Incredible it seems to me now. Just throw seeds in and hoe...and anything grew back then. We would have zucchini coming out the ears and have to give it away. Same with tomatoes and peppers.
I know one thing. I am pulling out these raised beds. I am not seeing enough return on the garden to keep them in and having to mow around them. Maybe I could till up the clay, add in better mixed soil and see if that is better. The boards in the beds are in need of replacement anyway...so I am just going to cut my losses and do away with them.
When I was a kid, we had massive gardens. We once had an acre garden. Incredible it seems to me now. Just throw seeds in and hoe...and anything grew back then. We would have zucchini coming out the ears and have to give it away. Same with tomatoes and peppers.