In mid-March I constructed a raised bed and filled it as advised by my local garden shop: about 50% pine fines, 25% organic matter rich bagged topsoil; and 25% bagged compost (mix of leaf & manure). I think that this soil is woefully inadequate in N based on the following observations:

- the radishes I planted on 3/22 have produced only 3-4 tiny radishes. Some of the radish leaves are yellowish.
- carrots and beets planted on 3/22 sprouted but have basically not grown at all past sprouting (1 inch high or so)
- cucumber seedlings I transplanted into the raised bed about three weeks ago have also not grown much. But I planted another seedling in a big pot with potting mixture, and its leaves are about 2x as big as in the raised bed.
- peas I planted on 3/22 and beans I planted two weeks ago are the only things that seem to be growing with any speed. Since peas and beans fix N from the air, this leads me to believe that lack of N in the soil is the problem for the other stuff.

In addition to the problems with N, the soil mix also seems to drain too quickly because of the high percentage of pine fines.

Here are my ideas for fixing the situation:
- feed this weekend with foliar fertilizer. I picked up some "organic" 8-4-4 stuff from Home Depot.
- add some alfalfa pellets
- for the bigger plants, top dress with a healthy layer of composted manure
- if the beets, carrots, and radishes don't take off, then give up and work in a bunch of compost in those sections and plant some seedlings instead.

Any suggestions or comments?

Thanks!

Mike

Because of their woody nature, the bark fines could well be tying up available nitrogen and I think you are correct in your assessment. Blood meal, alfalfa meal and bat guano are all relatively fast acting organic source of N. Or if water soluble, the organic stuff from HD could work also. Composted manure (if properly composted) is a great mulch or topdressing for any veggie garden, raised or not, but I'd not look to it for a fast N solution.

Raised bed gardening is far more like inground gardening than it is to containers :-) Most of the aeration/drainage issues common to container gardening do not apply. That's why you can get away with using regular ole garden soil in a raised bed, together with whatever OM is at hand......not something that would produce similarly successful results in a container situation :-) Ergo, one would want to fertilize a raised bed planting similar to how one would an inground planting bed. With the OM the OP has already got incorporated, I believe the necessary nutrients are very likely present, with the exception of the N for the reasons I gave. Regardless, the 8-4-4 forumlation most likely has a variety of micros included - most do. It is only the primary nutrients that are disclosed on the NPK ratio....the others should be listed elsewhere on the packaging.