There are people here who know more than I do, but...

First... you have a medium there, not really a soil. Two of the components, the vermiculite, and the peat moss, have no nutrient value... and even the best compost is more of an amendment than a fertilizer.

The problem is slightly compounded by the high water holding capacity of all three.

I see you having a few options...

1. Pull them out, make a real soil, and replant.

2. Treat them as if they were growing in a soil-less medium in containers. If they had some perlite, or a similar aggregate, they would do better, but for now, just make up a VERY dilute soluble fertilizer and use that every time you water. Begin with a balanced fertilizer... like 10-10-10, or any other even-percentage solution, then if they respond well, use a soluble fertilizer with lower nitrogen. You probably should look for one with a comprehensive nutrient spectrum, not just NPK.

Indoor growers do quite well with soil-less mediums, and essentially, that's what you have.

If you go the second route, and I think that's what I'd do, since the medium has a high water-holding capacity, make sure you don't over-water. Let the surface few inches dry out fairly well.

If they do begin to perk up, then skip a few nutrient waterings and go with straight water. As I said though, just make sure you use a very dilute solution.

Some indoor growers who fertilize every watering with the dilute solution will flush the medium with straight water every month or so to flush salts... I'm not sure you'll need to, but keep it in mind.

Please don't pull them out! You can add kitchen scraps and dig them in and/or put some Black Cow on them.

You have what's essentially a potting soil and the plants need more. Once you have used this mix a while it'll finally start getting mixed in with the original dirt, and the minerals, in concert with the further decaying organic materials, will be more available to plants than they are now. Everyone above has good ideas. Be careful with the watering, use that unfinished compost as a mulch, and get the plants some nutrition.

How thin are the stems? Does the area get a lot of light? I'm wondering if there are other issues besides the quality of the soil....

1/3 vermiculite is a lot in your potting mix ( soil less mix) is this a home made mix? I use potting mix like this in my containers gardens with added nutrients with much success. A permanent raised bed needs a soil mix not a soil less mix.

What kind of tomatoes are you growing, and what kind are your father growing? Different tomatoes grow differently. Though I do agree with everyone else that it seems to be a soil issue as well.

Equal parts peat, vermiculite, and compost is the mix for square foot gardening. While I haven't used it personally, I have read about others who had weak growth in their first year using it.

Rodney

I used the mix described above and had great results. The heavy rain mentioned by the original poster may be the problem. Tomatoes need a lot of sun and are also temperature sensitive. I wouldn't rip them out. Give them some time. If the raised bed is on the ground and not on cement, there is "real dirt" under there. You can also try putting chicken manure on top of the soil or make compost tea.

Weak growth can usually be traced back to compost that wasn't finished or had too many wood chips in it.

My raised bed

At the size of plants you have, my guess is that you only planted them at the original depth from seed starting. I would recommend digging them up carefully, then use something like a post-hole digger or shovel to dig very deep holes, say 10-inches deep. Pinch off all the little side branches up to the top few inches, and put them down into the hole. Mix in with the removed soil a little balanced fertilizer, organic or not, or compost, and fill in the hole leaving just those top few leaves. It wasn't that long ago that I set my tomatoes out doing exactly like I described here - they are now over five feet tall, coming out of the tops of the cages, covered with tomatoes, and the stems coming out of the ground are over an inch thick already (and will get larger). When you plant deep like this, roots develop all along that buried stem. Even when I first moved into my current house two years ago, and I was working with a clean slate of no garden beds and ground I could barely dig into, I still had pretty good tomatoes when the only soil amended for them was the filled in post holes I planted them in with compost and removed soil, mulched deeply afterward with whatever I could find. It wasn't my best garden year, but it was pretty darn good.

First, thanks for all the feedback.

To answer some of the questions I've been asked:

1. My raised beds are 11 inches high but I only have about 6 inches of mix. I will fill it up more next year.

2. My tomatoes are about the width of a sharpie pen - some are like pencil width.

3. Someone mentioned the square foot gardening method - yes this is what this was. i think the formula should include more compost but I guess that will come in time.

4. Since that was on grass, I put down cardboard first then a weed barrier. I'm thinking now that was not a good idea and will remove that at the end of the month. hopefully the cardboard will break down.

5. I've attached pictures - you'll see what I mean by the branches are not growing.

6. These are the same variety as my father in law. In fact he's growing some of mine that I had from seed and they are looking fantastic. These are Italian tomatoes - possibly San Marzano - they are seeds from relatives who live there in Italy.

To give some perspective - these were planted at the end of May as healthy seedlings. The twine represents a square foot. See what I mean - they are so lanky!

Hope this helps.

Oh, and these get 8 hours of sun min. I forgot to mention that. I dug them as deep as I could without hitting the bottom.

I am not really a fan of Miracle Gro, but IMHO it seems like this is one of those situations.... and perhaps try transplanting them into the ground. Dig up some of that grass... or just continue treating them like they are in containers like rgreen suggested. Just my 2 cents, for what they are worth.

Yeah, 717west, after reading your last post, it is of course up to you, but especially if you have a short growing season, go ahead and top dress with compost.

You said you have a 'generic tomato fertilizer'. If it's soluble, and comprehensive (has a broad spectrum of nutrients along with NPK) then use a diluted mix of that as you water. If it rains, after about 5 or 10 mins, grab an umbrella and pour some of the dilute nutrient solution in with the rain. If it's a long rain, wait until the rain is about to stop then pour it on. Not too much, follow the directions and make a mix a little more dilute than what they recommend.

If your fertilizer is the granular type, you can still add it to water, but just use a tsp./gal. You can also just sprinkle the granules on top of the soil around the plants. Remember, just use a little. You can always add more, you can't always take it out. And be sure to get a soluble fertilizer.

Planting 'as deep as you could without hitting the bottom' means that the plants were only 5 inches down, so for tomatoes, that's not very deep, but it's fine. I don't plant mine as deep as others and they do ok. Six inches is a limited depth for tomatoes, but they are flexible.

As discussed, do what you feel is best, but unless you have some reason to put cardboard and weed barrier down, it's really not necessary. Some people have the best soil in the world, and yet they will never know because they covered it up. Next year, if there is no reason not to, pull that weed barrier out. Any decomposition of the old grass should have been finished by then. Let the worms and microbes in through the soil underneath. the cardboard shouldn't hurt anything, it too will decompose.

If you plan to fill your beds the rest of the way up to the top, any weeds or grass that can make it through 11 inches of medium, the cardboard, and hopefully the mulch you'll use next year, lol, is some tough stuff!

I wouldn't use mulch this year, you have a very high water capacity with that blend. Next year, and this too is up to you and the method you're following, I would add an aggregate or some type of soil. Aggregates allow good air retention, which for roots, is more important than many people realize. It also allows water to drain better, which will help the soil dry out and you'll have better prevention of disease.

Get a soil test of your yard dirt and see what you have right there available. You might have gold. Over the fall and winter, add organic matter... leaves, grass, compost... whatever you can get.

Don't worry about this year, chalk it up to a learning experience. And who knows, following the advice on this thread may help you get more than you might expect at this point.

I'm sure i forgot something, and we all have different methods and ideas, but I think you plants are still workable. Good luck!

The most common cause by far for plants such as in your pics is lack of sufficient sun exposure but you said that isn't a problem. Next most common cause is the stress from overcrowding and while you plant doesn't look crowded it only has 6 inches of mix to grow in (far too shallow) and only one sq. foot. Even if you can't fill the bed up how you can build up the soil around th ebase of the plant's bare stem right? That will let it develop more roots along all that buried stem.

I'd have to check but I don't think Sq Foot gardening recommends only 1 sq. foot for tomato plants and 2 is the minimum. So the end result is a stressed plant.

Like Peter I'm not a fan of MG either but in this case it could be used as a quick-fix and buy you some time to fix the problems with the soil mix.

Dave

Thanks - I did space the tomatoes at least 2 feet apart so I think I'm okay there. I can build up around the plant like you said.

I think i will try the diluted fertilizer too for a quick boost.

Question: Do you think it will be bad if I add clay soil to these beds? They are getting ready to dig a house next door and I could have them give me a nice pile of deep dirt - albeit OH clay. I can add it in the fall and till it in (after removing the weed barrier). Opinions appreciated.

Thanks again - I think I'm getting enough information to know how I'll be spending my weekend!

Instead of the clay soil from next door, you could try mixing in a bag of Garden Soil from your local home improvement store. I did this with one of my SFG beds that was draining a bit too well and I really liked the results. It added a lot of body to the soil, while still keeping the mix light and staying within the spirit of the SFG method. (Though it's technically no longer a "pure" SFG, if that matters to you. Of course, it won't be if you add fertilizer, either, but I agree with everyone's recommendations that you should use some this year, while you are still developing your soil. If you use pre-bagged Garden Soil, be sure to read the label to see if it has any fertilizer mixed into it; you don't want to over-fertilize by accident.)

As others have said, needing a few years for a SFG to build up enough nutrients and organic material seems to be pretty common. You definitely don't want that artificial weed barrier in there, though. Cardboard will break down, but that plasticy-clothy stuff won't. But it will prevent your plant roots from eventually finding their way into your native soil and helping it break down. Mulch well with your homemade compost - now, and again later as more finishes; it really gives the plants a boost. Then you can mix in that mulch layer at the end of the season and give the soil a head start on next spring.

Good luck!

Skip the clay soil. It's the reason why those of us who have raised beds aren't planting directly in the soil. Clay particles are the smallest soil particles, so there is less air space between them. Drainage is slow. O the other hand, clay soil is rich in minerals.

You don't have to till, either. Raised beds don't need to be tilled. If you mixed the ingredients before you started the garden, you just need to replenish the nutrients used, which can be done by adding compost each time you remove a plant to put in another. You should be fertilizing monthly by sprinkling some fertilizer on the soil. Check the bag of what you are using for the recommended amount. There is probably a whole discussion on the soil forum about tilling vs. not tilling.