Could salt water be killing them? Are you near any runoff or watering from brackish waters? Just a guess! Maybe there is a sewage problem. Virginia Beach has a lot of that with their city sewage.

Good luck! Also maybe it's a bug. My uncle who is a great gardener in Tennessee, doesn't know much about Virginia, or at least I think so, informed me a bug can damage plants when they are young. Take note of what kinds of things you have crawling around, pictures or just good descriptions, to see if any are able to do damage.

If the last owner had motor oil on the ground, it may be leaching into your beds, maybe they added too much lime, or too much sulfur? I'm only guessing.

The best thing to do is take samples from a few areas in your garden area, send them off at about 8.00 dollars a pop, to see what is wrong with it.

It could be a number of things. I think that it's nutrient deficiencies from the compost. It's probably 90& grass clippings, which isn't a very good mix obviously. Don't use uncomposted manure, that'll only add to your problem. Go buy a dozen bags of manure and mix that in. You should see improvement next season.

Plant chlorosis, yellowing, has many causes which can include the soils pH. What is your soils pH? What is the level of Potassium? What is the level of Potash? What is the ratio of Calcium to Magnesium?
Right now a good reliable soil test is needed to determine what might need to be done.

I'd agree that a soil test will give you the answers you need.

Soil testing aside, I like your idea of doing a bit of sheet composting in the beds over the winter. I don't have too much experience with horse manure, but I do like things that are free. I would vote for adding horse manure this fall.

If you can get leaves around there, they are also a good source organic material that adds minerals and phosphorus. They would really need to be shredded to compost well over one winter, but they are great additions and I use a bunch of them in my garden. Of course, my garden is in the ground, but it seems likely they'd help you, too.

I also like greensand added to my garden, especially if your leaf supply is limited. It's a slow release source of potassium and other minerals.

I would avoid mulching with weedy grass!

Whatever you do, I think next year will be better. Any compost that's in there will be maturing, and soil structure and life will be establishing itself. Don't give up!

Thanks everyone for the responses. I just spoke with the local extension office, and I will be picking up some of the boxes to get the soil tested. The agent was surprised I was having a problem with the material I used.

Scarletdaisies: I don't think it's from salt water. The area did flood during Hurricane Isabel and our property supposedly lost a good number of mature sycamore trees after that, but the material in the beds was purchased from the municipal waste facility in York County. I suppose there could be salts in it from its original source, so I will check off to get the soil tested for soluble salts as well as the normal suite. Otherwise, everything else in the yard is doing swell. I've had a few insect pests, mainly on squash relatives, but nothing widespread. If the ground below the beds had motor oil/lime/etc put it previously, I'm not sure it would affect much, since the beds have the 1-foot depth of added soil. The plants have pretty much been stunted from the get-go.

Homertherat: I thought grass clippings would result in high nitrogen compost? But I think you're on to something here. I wonder if, since I bought the compost in the spring, it consisted of mostly bagged leaves from the previous fall. They would be largely carbon, no?

Kimmsr: the extension agent was thinking the same thing. He said that freshly chipped wood can really lower the pH of the soil. I have no idea how old the mulch was that I bought, but he though that the municipal center would have known better than to sell unaged mulch. We'll find out when the tests come back.

Petalpatsy: Thanks very much for the encouragement. I had such high hopes at the beginning of the summer, of canning tomatoes and such (with 24 plants, there had to be a surplus, right?) Hopefully the beds will do some maturing on their own, like you suggest. I was thinking maybe I should avoid leaves, since they would have a high C:N ratio. But I'm going to wait until I get the test results back before I do anything. Maybe greensand would be the way to go if it is phosphorus/etc related, so I don't add even more carbon to the mix.

Thanks so much for the feedback everyone. I'll keep you posted. And if anyone has other ideas, I'd love to hear them as well.

Nativeplanter, I agree that it's a ph problem. When I used the city's compost I had terrible results the first year. Someone told me it was too acidic and to add lime. I did, and the next year it was wonderful. Will you let us know what your soil tests said?

Glad2garden, I do so hope you are right. That would at least be a very easy fix (I think)! I just read that decomposing compost turns acidic then the pH comes back up as it matures. Makes sense; I do know that really organic forest soils are relatively acidic, and that carbon dioxide in water lowers the pH as well. I wonder, though, if one were to add lime at this point, would it become a problem when the compost finishes maturing and turn it too alkaline? Obviously, though, I won't do anything until I get some test results in.

Nativeplanter: That's the thing with city compost. They throw in EVERYTHING that they collect from the city. Usually, that means a large amount of weeds and grass clippings. Compost should have a variety of ingredients. I would say 5 or more is ideal. When more ingredients are involved, more nutrients are available for the plants.

A simple fix for your problem (provided that the pH is at a reasonable level) would be to add some slow release fertilizer. I would purchase a 50 pound (I think that's what they come in, it might be 40) bag of slow release fertilizer and add the amount that the bag suggests this year, then the same amount next year at planting. This year's application will be released over the winter, so when you plant, there will be nutrients available. The next application will release during the growing season.

Don't forget allelopothy, you mentioned sycamore tree, it has allelopic effects on some vegetables, but not sure what the symptoms would be. I am going through this now with every tree in the yard being allelopathic.

Are there any more sycamore trees and are they near your beds? You can compost the leaves efficiently, but if there are roots tagging into the bottom of your beds, you might have a problem.

You might dig a small deep hole in your beds to see if there are any other roots growing in your bed.

I hope your tests catches the culprit. I should have done the same with mine, but since I found every tree in the yard is doing it, I really don't need much more than that. Start with one problem at a time.

Nativeplanter, you're right about the C:N ratio of fall leaves. I was thinking more in terms of what good 'browns' you could put with horse manure if you went that way.

I think your answer is pretty simple and you recognized it right off the bat :-) It IS a nitrogen deficiency and it is caused by the mulch. Wood-based mulches, and especially those that are quite fine, tie up nitrogen availablity at the soil surface, or if incorporated even accidentally into the soil, further down into the soil level. This is seldom a concern with larger woody or perennial plants but can be a real issue with annuals or shallowly rooted veggies. Change the mulch or supplement with a high nitrogen fertilizer to offset. Since nitrogen is extremely mobile in the soil, you may need to do this repeatedly during the growing season.

A couple of other issues: compost is compost :-) Once it is fully composted, it doesn't make any difference what the raw ingredients were or how wide the variety, the nutrient analysis will be very similar. Leaf mold or just composted leaves is a very desirable (and expensive to purchase) soil amendment and has an NPK analysis very similar to that of a mixed ingredient compost. And finished or aged compost of any kind will have a pH of near neutral. Contrary to common belief, evidence has shown that wood mulches don't have any significant impact on soil pH either...perhaps a slight lowering at the soil surface again but not much more. And the vast majority of plants, including most veggies, will prefer a slightly to moderately acidic soil.

I would agree on the soil test, however. Over the course of attempting to 'fix' your soil, you might have gotten things a bit out of whack and it is always a good idea to have a base or starting point you know from which to work in any necessary amendments.

IMHO we have seen dozens of these complaints on this board this year, and generally the cause is nutrient deficiency. City compost is broken down by adding some form of ammonium for speed, and this can lower pH as well. So I agree with gardengal that a soil test is in order, and don't panic and add too much.

Dan

Native Planter -- After reading through your problem and all the suggestions, I can hardly wait to hear what your garden is like next year. Please PLEASE post a follow-up to this mystery - 'who dun it'. BTW - I didn't see any posts about the value of coffee grounds. I swear by them for amping-up some of the soil in my beds that was resurected from landscaping "digs". [pale yucky DG]

My guess is that there is a toxic residual, maybe weedkiller, in the compost that you got from the "municipal waste center." If I am right, & the toxin slowly degrades, you will have a more successful growing season in 2010, even if you do nothing to improve the soil. But I don't blame you for trying to come up with some appropriate amendments, I would likely do the same in your situation. It would be most appreciated if you could resurrect this thread in the fall of 2010, & tell us how your gardening turned out.

How was your weather this year? I'm not sure where you live but here in Ohio it was the coolest, cloudiest, wettest summer I ever remember. I had lots of plants which seemed stunted until around August when we finally got some warmth and sunshine, then they did great.

Or, you mentioned that the mulch repelled water. Could the plants have been thirsty? The thing about stunted plants and yellowing is that it can be symptoms of so many things- too much water, not enough water, insect infestation, chlorosis, N deficiency... It can be something simple or complex. A soil test is probably a good idea.

Karen