A bit low on nitrogen would be my guess...although the new growth on the tomato plant looks good.

Possibly it's too late in the year for kale and others. My kale from last fall is going to seed now.

grandad: The soil mix contains a good deal of horse manure and used coffee grounds. I wouldn't think that there would be a nitrogen void, unless the nature of lasagna gardening creates that.

chris: Its been unseasonably cold here. I planted the Kale before frosting date had passed and I think it saw two (one which killed the cukes I planted too early). Daytime has been around 70's and night time 45-55. My understanding is that they will still grow through the summer, just taste bitter.

It would appear to be a soil problem. Kale will grow in Virginia in the summer time. If its been planted for over month should be sizable by now. When planted early it will often bolt. The broccoli should be quite large There are soil borne problems like root rot and cabbage maggots that also caused this type of problem. I am an old time traditional gardener so I have no experience with your planting bed method. I spent most of my life in Virginia, however, and am aware of what will grow there.
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Farmerdill: the beds are created by layering the soil mix I mentioned above, and straw. Another name for it is sheet mulching.

Given the colors exhibited in my photos and the lack of growth, if this were a conventional garden bed, where would you start? Nitrogen?

Farmerdill: the beds are created by layering the soil mix I mentioned above, and straw. Another name for it is sheet mulching.

Given the colors exhibited in my photos and the lack of growth, if this were a conventional garden bed, where would you start? Nitrogen?

If those plants have been in ground for over a month, they are most likely stunted. especially the broccoli, it will form coin size heads if at all ( buttoning). I am familiar with sheet muching, I do that. But the dry matter is layered on top of the soil after the ground warms. Too much dry matter in the soil creates all sorts of problems. If you have a soil layer over a layer of straw, you would get the type of problem you are experiencing.

Jason, it looks to me like a severe fertility problem. The bed building method you used is sound in terms of creating growing space, but you still need fertilizer. The cabbage clan are heavy feeders with very limited abilities to partner up with soil microbes, so they depend on available nutrients in the soil. Red and yellow leaf colors are signs of distress, and when lettuce won't grow fertility is extremely low.

The brassicas may not be worth the effort at this point (my kale is in prime picking condition now), but you can save your peppers and tomatoes by drenching them with a liquid fertilizer and topdressing under the mulch with a dry organic fertilizer like GardenTone. Normally I'd suggest Neptune's Harvest for the liquid, but I think you need big guns. Get Miracle Gro. With either choice you will see improved color and vigor within a week.

planatus: Thank you I will get on it today. Was I wrong in assuming the UCG's and aged manure would act as fertilizer?

Also, will Miracle Grow hurt my long term plan for creating rich fertile soil in these beds?

The manure and coffee grounds will provide some nutrients, however it takes quite a bit of time for the soil microbes to build up to sufficient levels to breakdown the organic nutrients and make them available to your plants... lasagna beds are best created months in advance of planting, or they will need supplemental nutrients until they mature. I would not go the miracle grow route if you plan to keep the beds "organic" try using something more natural based like bonnie plant and herb liquid food, or something from espoma lik garden tone... the liquid stuff will probably be faster acting...

I'm looking hard at Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Plant Food and chasing it with some Espoma Garden-Tone. Does anyone have any thoughts or see any red flags with this approach?

This post was edited by eetchickn on Tue, May 7, 13 at 10:03

eetchikn, I did have some hesitation about low nitrogen being the cause - hence the word "guess" in my reply. However, manure can tend to have varying degrees of nitrogen to supplement your soil, with "aged" potentially having less nitrogen. (Needless to say I can't gauge the "aged" factor.) I also noted the fair amount of organic matter shown on your soil. Organic matter pulls/consumes the nitrogen during decomp. So combining this with your pictures, I decided to post my "guess".

The above recent suggestions should add a nitrogen boost. However, if farmerdill's "likely stunted" comment turns out the be correct, then it won't help that much on the brassicas.

I currently have few pepper plants that currently look much like the one in your photo. They are targeted for a side-dressing of 13-13-13 in the next couple of days. My organic which is pulling out the nitrogen is leaves.

This post was edited by grandad on Tue, May 7, 13 at 11:45

grandad: My response was not intended to blow you off, apologies if you took it that way. Your second response included 'organic matter pulls/consumes nitrogen during decomp' which is what your first post made me start thinking might be happening when you suggested low N. Thats why I stated 'I wouldn't think that there would be a nitrogen void, unless the nature of lasagna gardening creates that'.

I'm going to hit all three of my plots with some organic liquid fert, and some slow release as well. I also plan on brewing some vermicompost tea as my 4 month old bin has done well. It may not save the brassicas but I have 30-40 peppers and around 70 tomatoes planted out. Ill give the broccoli and kale a month or so to see if it stays petered out and if it does, I'll pull and plant some bush beans and my okra.

eetchickn, in no way did I take your reply in a negative way... I realized that you were not trying to "blow me off".. So NO apologies required. I only wanted to provide you with you a bit of my thought process - hence my reply.

This post was edited by grandad on Tue, May 7, 13 at 12:22

Thanks, if the rain holds off I'll hit the beds with the liquid fert tonight and update this thread in a week or so.

yes medium looks very dry and low in nutrients, maybe the reddish leaves are indication? apply heaps of mulch if it is clayey soil also apply gypsum, add kitchen scraps under mulch layer daily if you have them, add compost worms to beds.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens bale garden

You can check the labels, but I think the MG organic fertilizer is a poultry manure based product, and Garden Tone has more rock powders, feather meal and other ingredients not in the MG product. Piggy-backing them might be good.

As the summer progresses, you also can make your own liquid by mixing 2 tablespoons of any balanced organic fertilizer with a quart of warm water. Wait a day or two (no more), pour off the top, dilute with water 6 to 1 and go.

Alright, I hit the entire garden with fish emulsion (Alaska?) 8-1-1. Tomorrow I'll put out the garden tone. I decided against the Miracle Grow organic liquid because it was 8-0-0. I didn't like the lack of PK. Now we watch and wait.

Some of it, I think is due to the cold weather, which is breaking now here. Most of my cool crops are smaller than usual. But I also think nutrients a part of your issue also. They may be stunted as already mentioned.

They may grow through the summer, but it is rarely worth it here. Somewhere in July/August they turn into bug magnets and it is easier to start with fresh, vigorous growing seedlings.

Len: the surface dries out pretty good but I promise its pretty wet after an inch. The straw layers are like a sponge. Rain and watering has left the triple shredded wood mulch on top along with the larger pieces of horse apple. The finer manure, topsoil, and mushroom compost has settled.

Planatus: what's going to collect at the top? Also would it work to mix some in while brewing worm casting tea?

I have about 15-20 cubic feet of the soil I mixed up for the lasagna gardens left over. The other day I had to relocate the pile and I was astonished at the worm density that has moved in to it, a couple inches down a handful would average around 6 worms and a good deal of them were fatter than a pencil. I think I was on the right track with the ingredients, I just didn't give the food web enough time.

Alright update time.

Red Russian Kale
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Curly Kale
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Roma Tomato
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It might not show in the pictures due to the lighting but the color of the kale and the tomatoes are much healthier looking across the board, and the there is more new growth this week than in the last three. I'm probably going to end up pulling the broccoli, it has not grown so I think the stunted assessment is correct. The color is better though. I'll make them into a salad.

I pulled and potted all but one of my superhots as I would really like to get them healthier. I think the cold ground made them unhappy. The one I left in the ground has better color and new leaves coming out at the top. We are looking at 90's this week so we'll see if they take off.

The problem now is something is topping my peppers and pulling some in the process. I think its a rabbit, so I sprayed the entire pepper bed with a mix of garlic powder and chili powder. Interesting that they left the kale and tomatoes alone.

worm tea, is an amazing amendment
I too have some stunted brassicas that didnt get the TLC needed in the seed trays.
I usually find a shady spot in my garden for chard and kale.
happy digging

Maryann

By just looking at your soil, it occurs to me that it has TOO MUCH chunky compost.

It is a well know fact that such organic matter ,poor in nutrients , will absorb most of what you are trying to feed to your plants. This will continue until that compost,chips are satured with nutrients . Then will come your plants turn to hav something to eat. In the future, as the coarse compost disintegrates, the nutriens will be released.

From the most recent photoes, it seems to me that your plans are getting a bit more nutrients. That means, up untill then the compost(or whatever the medium) was absorbing the food.