Soil in raised beds ammending

[cdg]

Built new raised beds . Purchased bulk soil . Soil test showed to add 3 lbs. of phosphorus (P205) per 1000 sq. feet . My raised beds total 200 sq. ft . so I should add .6 lbs. of phosphorus total . Is this correct ? I was thinking 5 lbs. of rock phosphate . Would this be right ? Also , ph tested 7.7 so was thinking 2 lbs. of Sulphur this year and retest next year . I am old and not real good at figuring this type of thing so any input would be appreciated . Thanks in advance .

[cjp1953]

Did you have someone test your soil if so they should have given you recommendations on what and how much for the size of your garden.My test were sent to Penn. State and they sent me the results and how much to add for my garden which is about the same size.Sorry I did not answer your question but some of those test are costly and should provide the information your after.

[brownrexx]

Yes .6 lbs or 9.6 Oz is correct for 200 square feet.

[cdg]

thanks much . I appreciate . Texas A&M did the soil test and ph was 7.7 but they did not give suggestions to lower . I figured I would add a couple of pounds of sulfur to try to get it down below 7 eventually since my main interest is tomatoes .

[brownrexx]

Sulfur will do the trick but it is slow so don't expect results before next year.

[Worth1]

Vinegar is NOW and it isn't permanent.
Plus side, it wont make your onions hotter than hell.
4 to 8 ounces per gallon is what I use I think in and ortho dial and spray.
Just regular 5% cheap vinegar nothing fancy.

[cdg]

Thanks folks . My tomatoes drowned this year and am trying to get prepared for next year if I am blessed enough to get another . Last year was also a bummer , straight from spring to blazing inferno . anyway , thanks so much for all suggestions and opinions .

[SueCT]

I have considered putting down plastic sheets as a mulch when rain started seem excessive, but have never actually done it. You can buy long rolls of plastic in the paint dept at Places like Home Depot. Digging a slight trench between rows might also help before putting down the plastic. My garden is on a slope, and although i have leveled it off with amendments over the years, I don't think it would be that difficult to make a slightly sloped trench with plastic over it between rows. I have wondered if anyone else had ever tried something like that before. Anyway, not much you can do about the heat except erect some type of shade if possible and water, water, water. Texas can be a brutal place to try to garden.

[brownrexx]

I have not tried using sheets of plastic but I would if I had too much rain.

This year we had day after day of rain after I planted my tomato seedlings and I was worried about them getting too much water so I bought some cheap plastic baskets at the Dollar store and covered my tomatoes during a couple of the storms. This only works for small plants because they outgrew the baskets fairly quickly but they all came through it and are fine now.


20190514_155814 by Brownrexx, on Flickr

[SQWIBB]

I don't understand the reason for covering during heavy rains. Are the roots drowning?
I would think the only way to limit water would be to cover the area and have a runoff away from the plants.
Covering just the plants will not result in less water during the rain, the same amount of water will still get to the roots as in Browmrexx picture above.

Not sure if I'm missing something here or not?

[brownrexx]

Yes, I was afraid that the roots were getting too much water. I don't cover my plants on a regular basis normally but the week after I planted my seedlings, it rained every day and the soil was becoming saturated. The covers kept extra water from getting around the bases of the plants.

After that period of daily rain in early May, the plants and the soil were fine.