Too Much Of The Good Things?

[jdmidwest]

I went to raised beds this year. 2x8's filled partly with original garden soil and topped with 4" of Walmart Composted Manure and Topsoil mixed. I thought it was going to be the way to go.

My tomato plants have been in the ground for about 3 weeks now and they have not grown more than an inch or so. Cucumbers and tomatoes are turning a little yellow.

At first I thought it was the cool nights 2 weeks ago. Then there has been the excessive moisture of the past few weeks. Now we have another cool spell with days with clouds only.

I noticed that there was alot of chopped bark and wood in the mix, more so than what I bought last year for the other beds. I thought maybe the mix was too hot and burning the plants. I was at a loss.

Then a friend told me that the bark was using up all of the nitrogen in the soil and the plants were not getting any. So, I sprinkled a miracle grow packet on the beds and let the rain soak it in. Then I hit them with some pelleted 12-12-12 to give them more in a time release manner. If the sun ever comes out, maybe they will perk up!

The corn and okra is starting to come up. Taters are up now too. They are planted in the rest of the garden. Started picking a few strawberries, but they are suffering and rotting in the rain soaked beds.

Bees are doing great, I have already split one hive into 3 and am well on my way to my goal of 12 by the fall. It will probably be more like 20 by then the way things are going. I have another hive that I will split into 3, the rest will be doubled by June at the least.

We need less rain and cold temps. How about a little sun for a change?

[ness]

I don't think the wood in the mix is using up N so fast that it's a problem this spring. The cool, wet weather is probably more to blame. Maters just don't like that too much. But, they tolerate it.

My maters got hardened off for a week or more before I planted them outside. But, they just didn't seem to like it at all when I put them in the ground. After a couple weeks they seem to have settled in and look very good now. You might just need a little more time. The upside to this weather is a good environment for the cool-season stuff. Everything but the peppers and maters are looking great right now.

[jdmidwest]

The peppers are in the same mix too and yellow.

The bags said pine bark and other wood debris. I was wonder if the ph is off some also. Now that the rain has leeched off all of the dirt on top, it looks more like a mulch than topsoil.

[ness]

47 degrees this morning and they're saying 37 tonight -- which could mean a frost.

I never have much luck with spinach because it always seems to get too hot too quick. Getting a great crop this year -- I wish I'd planted a bunch more.

[tho1mas]

Better cover up tonight. Got spinach, lettuce & onions (think I am turning green).

[Wayne SW/MO]

How do you split a hive. You have to have a queen for each, right?

[REDSOXWSCHAMP]

put some LIME down on your garden, it will help balance the ph of the soil.

[ness]

put some LIME down on your garden, it will help balance the ph of the soil.

but first, take the pH.

[jdmidwest]

How do you split a hive. You have to have a queen for each, right?

That is the quickest way to add a mated queen to a few frames of bees. But I did 2 walk away splits with a frame of brood, queen cells that they had made getting ready to swarm, and a frame of honey and pollen. The nurse bees stay with the frames and tend the brood, the queens hatch, mate, and start laying. Same thing they would have done in a swarm, but only one queen would have lived and killed the rest. The original queen would have swarmed and left with a group of the bees. I prevented it,

I also make splits with a frame of eggs, frame of brood, and frame of honey and pollen. The new hive realizes it is queenless and turns a few eggs to queen cells and in about 4 weeks she is mated and laying. The swarm cells cut that time in half. A mated queen in a split will start laying as soon as she is released. Either way, it is a start to a new hive.

[jdmidwest]

put some LIME down on your garden, it will help balance the ph of the soil.

but first, take the pH.

I plan on that when the ground dries out a little. We are going on 8" for the week now, more storms rolling thru.

I am not too worried about frost here. Cloudy, rainy, and windy should not lead to a frost tonight.