To be honest, NPK isn't something I get too worried about.
Fish emulsion and seaweed are both great ways to feed your soil, in NZ these products rarely state an NPK as it varies too much. You'll get the best results if you use a dilute mix regularly.
Are the gardens deeply mulched? As far as I'm concerned, that'll make as big a difference as anything.
I let tomatoes dry out quite a bit betweeen watering, then water really deeply through the mulch. Too much water will kill them as surely as too little. One thing about toms, don't underistimate how massive the indeterminates can get. The black cherry can grow 6-8 ft tall and 5ft wide, so make sure you're not caught out for support and don't attempt to squeez things in close.
I don't know your climate, so I won't comment further!

I'm with feijoas on the overwatering; the plant roots have to get oxygen out of the soil, no mean feat. Mulching is good, but go lightly if you have a wet climate there because you-all out West have some SERIOUS slugs. When you plant your next round (tomatoes self-fertilize mostly but other things don't), consider grouping each type of plant EXCEPT possibly mix the bush beans in among the other plants (buy an inoculant--a helping microbe just for beans) to help the beans "set" nitrogen into the soil--and you'll be growing your own nutrients.

The kelp goes best as a foliar spray and just to wet the soil; it helps feed your microbes. (I have a brief summary a friend sent me, but couldn't get it to post here, so I dropped it on my blog for you.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Minerals and Microbes for Garden Soil

How well does that soil drain?
How well does that soil retain moisture?
What does that soil smell like?
The key to growing any plant is to be sure the soil they are planted in is good and healthy, is well endowed with organic matter and is evenly moist but well drained. You may have a soil that is all organic matter that might not drain well.

Tomatoes are the most heavy feeders I know! Fish emulsion often contains only nitrogen and kelp mostly kalium, and both are great stuff for the soil. Kitchen waste compost often contains phosphorous, but general garden compost made from off cuts of trees, bushes and grass doesn't. That is why I have added bonemeal to the soil every third year or so to make shore it's there. Cow manure or horse manure contain phosphorous too, as well as chicken pellets. Some vegetables need higher levels of phosphorous than others.

The soil is not suppose to smell anything other than soil, and you might need to mix in sand or perhaps perlite or "popped clay". It will help with soil structure, and even though everything might be fine the first year, sand becomes a must later on.

best of luck :-)

Thanks a lot to feijoas, lee_in_iowa, kimmsr & taoseeker for your valuable suggestions. My raised beds drain very well and retain moisture well (Even with temperatures of 80+, I can see that they are a bit moist upto 2 days sometimes). I will be adding horse manure compost to the plants. I recently started using it around my other mature trees and it seemed to absorb a lot of water and retain moisture really well. This past weekend, I have started with feeding Fish emulsion & kep liquid fertilizer. I plan to do it once a week with a moderate level mix. The soil smells very fresh. Even the horse manure compost that I got for my trees (which I plan to use for my plants as well) has no smell at all. I grabbed a handful and smelled it. I didn't smell anything bad.

I live in Southern California, which I believe is zone 9D (according to the USDA Hardiness chart). Our spring-summer temperatures range from 70s to 100+.

I will keep you updated on how my first year goes! Thanks again for all your kind advise.

Regards
Telugu Raithu

If you have a raised bed with almost 100% organic matter, I think your biggest lack is going to be calcium, which can make your tomatoes lack sweetness. When I make raised beds here in SoCal, I use half native clay soil and half fully composted organic matter and then add bone and seaweed meal and mix thoroughly. I'll add some washed sand if I feel for some reason I have to have a fast draining soil.

I've never found a purchased soil that matches the yields I get from this native/compost mix. For the annual crops you are growing, a good soil can go a full growing season without additional fertilizers, as long as plenty of new compost is worked in.

^ yes calcuim is big. you say you use fish fert that is good. Neptune's cold pressed is best. Get the crushed crab shell for cal+mag. not only do the fish fert have npk they have tons of vtms minerals and trace elmts...that is all you need! and the ppl on here said it right let the soil dry before watering/feeding.

Hello,

I've been gardening for a little while now. This year I wanted to do my gardening organically. I got a compost tumbler to help make fresh compost. In the meanwhile I was able to get some compost that they make here locally where I live. There's a lots to learn about how to grow organic, properly. Organic fertilizers are extremely low in the "three numbers" how often do you fertilize the plants? Doing video searches on organic gardening people are adding things to their soil such as worm casting, cow dung and various other things to ...raise the nitrogen levels and other levels in the soil. I can't find a video that I saw a while ago, supposedly there are plants that actually produce more nitrogen and give it back to the soil. I forgot what kind of plans they were, if anyone knows, then please let me know.
Is it really necessary to add all kinds of additives to your soil or will compost work just fine? Oh yeah, I bought this organic soil from Amazon, it really doesn't work that good. 1 out of 15 came up. The jiffy pellets work wonderful but stay away from their organic soil. I think this year I'm going to cheat a little and use miracle grow because I just don't understand a whole lot, right now. As the years go on I hope to get more organically savvy.

Growing organically is definitely not easy and little more tricky than normal. If you have any advice or opinion fill free to let me know, thanks. Matt

When i grew peppers using fish fert i used the 5-1-1 during its front stages of life then as soon as some flower sights came i strated adding both 5-1-1 and the 0-10-10 through the onset of fruiting then i droped all N levels and gave it just 0-10-10 adding a carbo will stop the stress of the lost N value you should use sugar the whole way it helps the plant uptake N and stay short and strong. I also flushed a week or two befor i harvested my peppers. Now when growing somthing you are continually harvesting it will be a little diff you may be adding both all the way through.

Calcium for tomatoes prevents blossom end rot. Crushed egg shells work well and so do cheap calcium tablets. I also give 'em a handful of Epsom salts for magnesium. Keep your nitrogen low to avoid big bushy plants with no fruit.

I prefer rock phosphate to bonemeal--critters like the bonemeal, including my dogs!

Thanks for your continuing suggestions!

A couple of weeks ago, my Tomato plants' leaves started to change their color and become a bit brownish. I was really worried that the mild hale we had one night (roughly a week after they were planted) might have caused blight. I took a couple of samples (one bad looking old leaf and another newly growing one) to a local farming store (OC Farm Supplies in Anaheim, CA). The guy there was so patient and cooperative, he told me that he can't see any kind of disease with it and felt I might be watering them too much. Relieved, I came home and cut down on my watering routine of every other day to twice a week. It's been a week since and my plants are looking good already.

Additionally, I went to the beach early Sunday morning and collected a couple of buckets full of Kelp. I soaked them in a big 13 gallon bin by filling it with water for about 12 hours. I took the thick juicy water out and added one part of this juice to an equal part of water and gave them to all my plants. There was enough left for me to give to my trees as well. This juice is THICK. Afterwards, I took out small chunks of this Kelp and laid it around my plants and covered them up with aged horse manure compost (which could double up as mulch, too). I am planning to repeat this process once a month throughout the growing season. From what I read, this thing is full of nutrients, so I am hoping this will help my plants to have enough of N-P-K. I bought Dr.Earth's Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer (5-7-3) but haven't fed them any of it yet. If I continue feeding them Kelp juice every other week, would that be enough or should I still be fertilizing more? I want to keep away from any store bought feed (like Dr.Earth's), if I can.

Your expert advise will be grately apprecaited.

Thanks,
Telugu Raithu

I can't find a video that I saw a while ago, supposedly there are plants that actually produce more nitrogen and give it back to the soil. I forgot what kind of plans they were, if anyone knows, then please let me know. Matt I believe those are legumes and cover crops, like rye, hairy vetch and so on. See cover crops for more

Rudy