I am in San Diego. We turned part of our lawn into a garden in June. The original soil was incredibly compacted and lacking in organic material. We brought in 2 flatbed loads of compost for 300 sf. an added some Dr Earth and occassional fish emulsion. We had success with arrugala, lettuce, radishes, sweet potatos, and tomatos. Not so much success with squash, pole and bush beans, carrot, beats, and peppers.

In mid-Sept we pulled everything out, brought in another 2 loads of compost, and replanted direct sow. Everything I planted was recommended by various regional guides (OC Register, San Diego Garden, various gardeners I know, etc.) Here's where we're at at the end of October (about 6 weeks in):

Bed 1- Peas seem to be growing and the trellis is p for them to start climbing. Fava and lima beans are coming in

Bed 2- Spinach hasn't sprouted at all. Lettuce has sprouted but no plant has progressed past a pinky nail-sized leaf. Same deal with the arrugala except for one plant that seems to be growning slowly.

Bed 3- Radishes seem to be doing well. Beats and carrots doing about same as before- srpout but don;t really grow.

Bed 4- Mix of herbs (mint, cumin, rosemary, majoram, etc) and flowers (California poppy, calendulas) have sprouted but not really grown past an inch tall.

Bed 5- 2 types of kale and swiss chard- very little sprouting, and nothing grown above an inch.

So, 6 weeks in, is this stuff stunting, or do I need to be more patient? They didn't seem to be doing much when the weather was still warm, and now it's getting into the 40s at night.

Please let me know if you have any advice, thoughts, or questions that might help better inform me.

Thanks

Another possibility is the pH may be way out of kilter so the nutrients in the soil aren't available to the plants. All depends on the quality of your compost - broad range of quality if you don't make it yourself.

Try giving the leafy greens a diluted dose of a quick-fix fert like Miracle Grow and see what happens. If they kick into high gear then you know the over-all problem is that nitrogen is needed. But go easy on feeding any of the legumes or you'll just get lots of leaves with little peas or beans. Same for the radishes and beets - they aren't lovers of nitrogen.

If not then you need to get the pH adjusted. That will require a pro soil test, which is always a good idea under any circumstances.

Good luck.

Dave

The compost is made by our local municipal yard waste recycler, so it is probably carbon heavy, but as I said I'm a newbie. I get it b/c it is only $5 for a truckload and I needed a lot of compost.

I have fish emulsion and Dr. Earth for vegetables, which I believe is 5% Nitrogen, 7% Phosphorous, and 4% potash. This is about all I have to work with as between the irrigation system and seeds my garden budget is speant. I have some homemade compost (lots of veggies and coffee grounds) but it's probably not enough to do more than a light dressing on the 5 beds.

How much does it cost to have the soil tested, and are there cheap DIY kits? For pH can I just buy some litmus strip and squeeze some soil against them?

I'll try side dressing with the Dr. Earth this weekend.

Thanks again!

If you add that compost to San Diego soil, you may be well over 8, and nothing will grow much (I note that a high pH typically inhibits N absorption, so some facts on the ground are consistent with the hypothesis). I second the test soil. A good, mild, long term acidifier is wood chip mulch, though that prevents direct seeding.

Now, to the PO: there are some veggies that will do well in incredibly heavy soil, learn to love them. Carrots are not one of them. Fava, radicchio, cardoon, and brassicas are my best winter performers in heavy clay. Chard, beet, and brassicas are my best winter high pH performers (around here, they demand quite a bit of wood ash on the side), so you could get some orientation by comparing growth rates of indicator veggies.

It is a good idea to have some unfinished, fairly green compost (ground coffee is good, but I prefer decomposed kitchen scraps which have just stopped smelling) in heavy beds at all times to keep a high earthworm population. Over the years, they will turn the soil very well for you. I assume you have had abundant rains, some seeds really want that to germinate vigorously.

It is possible that they mix other things in there, possibly wood ash. Stuff grows well in it, in the first season without any fertilizer.

It was too hot for the spinach and lettuce in Sept/Oct, try again now. Also, there's a lot to be said for germinating some seeds in sterile soil in flats or other containers. For ones better directly seeded, try soaking the larger seeds (such as peas & beets) for an hour before planting). Here's a schedule for when to plant veggies in SD.