You need to dig in and look at the soil to fins out why it did not allow plants to grow very well. That means soil testing and your Mississippi State University does a basic soil test for $6.00 per sample. In addition these simple sol testws may be of some help.

1) Soil test for organic
material. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in
a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and
replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24
hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight.
For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the
bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above
that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top.

2) Drainage. Dig a hole
1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains
away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain
away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains’ too quickly and needs
more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the
soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful
of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is
released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a
finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your
soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant
odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria
will be and the nicer your soil will smell, to a point. Too much organic matter
can be bad as well.

5) Life. How many
earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5,
according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that
is not healthy.

kimmq is kimmsr

Thank you. I will do those things. I've seen the soil in a jar and water in the hole test before. I knew I should have tried that. I will do it.

The bed is about 3 or 4 years old and has produced well in the past. The first year I made my own compost with nothing but grass clippings and a ton of shredded paper. I made that right in the bed and that was pretty cool.

Over the years, I've added different things, sort of randomly. Sometimes just emptying flower pots into it and other things. Not very scientific. This past spring a friend swore by black cow manure. I usually do not like being things, but in a weak moment I did. The peppers didn't die, they just never grew. I may stick to making my own compost from here on out.

I do not have any worms in that bed for some reason. That's why I figured I'd throw in the coffee grounds, which I know worms love, as well as a few shovels from my worm bin to sort of seed it. I've actually been very successful in the worm bin project. I'm up to three bins and the worms are thriving. I figured maybe they would munch down on the cow manure and make the whole raised bed into a worm bin under the pine straw.

Meanwhile, I'm going to do the jar test and see how it comes out. Thank you.

brewing worm tea is a waste of time. just put the castings in the garden.

A lack of earthworms in that bed may indicate a lack of adequate levels of organic matter, or some other problem, but is a pointer to why your plants did not grow well, the soil is not able to support plant life and needs attention.

kimmq is kimmsr

btw, in my original post I meant to type "I do not like buying things" not "I do not like being things." lol

I would have thought the cow manure would have been sufficient organic material for the worms. Everyone says that worms will just come, but I'm thinking that the ground where I built the raised bed was such thick mucky clay (I'm pretty much in the marsh) that worms have been unable to make it in.

So, now I've seated the bed with worms. I'll see what happens.

Keep in mind crops need rotated.

"A lack of earthworms ... is a pointer to why your
plants did not grow well, the soil is not able to support plant life and
needs attention."

That is a far too simple analysis. it is a BIG mistake to assume every productive gardening effort needs earthworms. They are nice to have, perhaps, but not in any way necessary nor in any way truly ubiquitous.

"I think I may have added too much store bought black cow manure."

Maybe that could be a part of it. Are you sure it's COW manure, not STEER? Steer manure can be ridiculously heavy with sodium salt because of the realities of urinary calculi in castrated beef cattle.

it's bad for worms, too...

"A lack of earthworms in that bed may indicate a lack of adequate levels of organic matter, or some other problem, but is a pointer to why your plants did not grow well, the soil is not able to support plant life and needs attention."
One needs to read the whole sentence in context and understand what was written. Note the word "may" that was left out of the attempt to critique. There are a number of problems that are slowly coming to light.

That the bed was built on mucky soil may also be part of the problem. Possibly that raised bed built on a soil that does not drain well is not able to drain very well either.

kimmq is kimmsr

I did the drainage text. The water drained out very quickly, less than 20 minutes

Don, you likely have more than one problem.

<I have a raised bed that did not do very well this year. I think I may have added too much store bought black cow manure.> And overdone with the other amendments too, slow down until you get a professional soil test done.

Seriously, your plants are talking to you, they are not happy for some reason and you have to find out why. You haven't mentioned sunlight - how many hours of direct sunlight does this garden get during the growing season?

Brewing worm tea is not something I would do (or worry about) unless/until you have plants growing. Or as mentioned just put the castings in the garden but I would wait til spring AND the soil test results are in AND you have determined this garden area is getting the amount of direct sunlight needed for your plants.

The bed did well for about 3 years. The first year I grew squash and zucchini. They produced well, except the rabbits ate more than we did. The second year, okra did great. The third year, I did a variety of peppers without problem. This year, tried peppers again , and nothing; even though the basil did not seem to suffer at all.

Now, I will admit that the bed gets a lot more shade than peppers usually like, and I was not as conscious with the water as I was last year. For some reason I think it was that cow manure. And I'm concerned about the no worms. I thought the manure would draw the worms, not repel them.

I guess I'll do a soil test through the extension service.

I don't know why I wanted to do the worm tea. I guess I've got worm castings, a bucket, and a fish aquarium aerator staring at me and I couldn't resist. lol

<The bed did well for about 3 years. > Sounds as if it is either something you did (as in added to soil) or there are trees that grew some shading the bed more than before?

I would guess something he didn't do, fertilize in proper proportion, or the trees got bigger.

Don

Are there trees within 50 feet or so of this garden bed? If so you might have tree feeder roots growing up into the bed and sucking up all of the nutrients and out competing your pepper plants.