I’m an old retired farmer. We leave in northeast Maryland zone 7. I built my daughter 2, 8’x3’ x 10” deep raised beds on 2’ long legs. I left 3/4” spaces between floor boards and lined with a material that would allow water to go through but not dirt. She bought miracle grow organic raised bed soil to fill them, and has added no other fertilizers. Planted seeds 1st of April radishes, lettuce, carrots, spinach, kale and other cold plants. Plants after May 10. squash, tomatoes and acouple others. It’s positioned in an open area, no shade any time during the day. Our temperature has been fairly normal for May. She waters just enough to keep things moist. The problem is everything is growing in miniature. Example, yellow squash 10” high 2 leaves and blooming, radishes with 2 leaves 2” tall with radishes big enough to eat, spinach 2 or 3 leaves and bolting. Any thoughts would be appreciate.
Raised bed
- Thread starter 1941chevy
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Hello- I'm in southern Maryland. We have had some good weather and some major cold snaps! The cold weather will slow down summer plants like tomatoes, peppers and squash. My beans and cukes actually have leaf damage from frost this last week.
I though the same, till I saw the plants they don’t show any sign of cold or wind damage Except on cucumbe. I think I’m going to tell her to let the soil dry for a couple days after the 2” of rain we had this Memorial Day week end and give them some miracle grow.
I'm no expert by any means but 8" (really 7.5" or even less if the bottom slats are mounted inside the frame) is already not a lot of depth to grow plants that are supposed to produce volume, only filling the box halfway is probably just not enough room for a lot of things, even moreso when you're planting relatively close together. There's probably about 3"- 4" of dirt there?
Hi,
It looks like the planters are on the second story deck of a house. That's a lot of weight for a deck. Residential decks are designed to support relatively light distributed loads (people, furnishings, snow), not heavy concentrated loads, like those planters. A dry cubic foot of soil weighs around 75 pounds, and 100 pounds when wet. An 8' x 3' x 0.75' soil bed is 18 cubic feet. The combined wet weight of soil in the planters is 3600 lb. (18 cf x 100 lb/cf x 2 = 3600 lbs). That's like parking a car on the deck. I doubt the added weight will cause a collapse, but the deck may deflect or settle unevenly. Don't add any more more soil to the planters. You might want consider replacing the planters with something smaller and lighter.
In a previous life I was a carpenter. It's not my intention to alarm you, just offer some sincere advice.
It looks like the planters are on the second story deck of a house. That's a lot of weight for a deck. Residential decks are designed to support relatively light distributed loads (people, furnishings, snow), not heavy concentrated loads, like those planters. A dry cubic foot of soil weighs around 75 pounds, and 100 pounds when wet. An 8' x 3' x 0.75' soil bed is 18 cubic feet. The combined wet weight of soil in the planters is 3600 lb. (18 cf x 100 lb/cf x 2 = 3600 lbs). That's like parking a car on the deck. I doubt the added weight will cause a collapse, but the deck may deflect or settle unevenly. Don't add any more more soil to the planters. You might want consider replacing the planters with something smaller and lighter.
In a previous life I was a carpenter. It's not my intention to alarm you, just offer some sincere advice.