What sort of fertilizer and how much did you use? It sounds to me as if you may have overdone the feeding.
I agree with Lyn, a good book on growing veg so that you get a grasp of the basics is a good idea - maybe Santa will bring you one
Grow your own Vegetables by Joy Larkcom is a good one and is available via Amazon.
Then you'll know what to do, when and what with - then if your plants and performing according to the book then we can try to help put them back on track.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Just to briefly go back to the depth issue - someone said 18" would be right, but I assume that assumes that the bed is built on open ground, not concrete. I would go deeper on top of an unbroken concrete base, to allow for a layer of free draining material at the bottom (which should link to the drain holes around the edge).
Would root vegetables not also require more than 18"?
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
No, our beds are on Tarmac. 18 inches works fine for every vegetable crop we grow. There is no drainage material, the beds suffer from too much drainage rather than too little. The beds dry out quickly in Summer.
I've been growing vegetables on Tarmac for 13 years. It has disadvantages (mainly drying out so quickly) but also advantages. The Tarmac under the beds is not broken up in any way. There is a dry surface to walk on round the beds and weeds are easy to deal with with a quick pass with the spade down the sides of the beds.
If they're planted in good soil tomatoes don't need feeding until after the first truss of fruit has set.
Also seedlings aren't developed enough to need or to cope with additional fertiliser - a bit like giving a new baby a full steak dinner! Too much nitrogen (the 7 in your 7-3-3) will have 'burnt' the roots.
There should have been enough nutrition in the new pot of soil to enable them to grow steadily for a while, then when they've used all of that they'll be bigger and need planting out into the garden. When you plant them into well prepared garden soil they could have a light feed of a slow release fertiliser.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Are you growing the tomatoes under cover just now DrG? Do you just want an early crop? It's very early to be doing tomatoes. They get big, and you'll need a fair bit of space and heat to keep them going through winter. Over here, we usually start them at the end of winter into early spring.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
What sort of fertilizer and how much did you use? It sounds to me as if you may have overdone the feeding.
I agree with Lyn, a good book on growing veg so that you get a grasp of the basics is a good idea - maybe Santa will bring you one
Grow your own Vegetables by Joy Larkcom is a good one and is available via Amazon.
Then you'll know what to do, when and what with - then if your plants and performing according to the book then we can try to help put them back on track.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Would root vegetables not also require more than 18"?
I've been growing vegetables on Tarmac for 13 years. It has disadvantages (mainly drying out so quickly) but also advantages. The Tarmac under the beds is not broken up in any way. There is a dry surface to walk on round the beds and weeds are easy to deal with with a quick pass with the spade down the sides of the beds.
If they're planted in good soil tomatoes don't need feeding until after the first truss of fruit has set.
Also seedlings aren't developed enough to need or to cope with additional fertiliser - a bit like giving a new baby a full steak dinner! Too much nitrogen (the 7 in your 7-3-3) will have 'burnt' the roots.
There should have been enough nutrition in the new pot of soil to enable them to grow steadily for a while, then when they've used all of that they'll be bigger and need planting out into the garden. When you plant them into well prepared garden soil they could have a light feed of a slow release fertiliser.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Are you growing the tomatoes under cover just now DrG? Do you just want an early crop? It's very early to be doing tomatoes. They get big, and you'll need a fair bit of space and heat to keep them going through winter. Over here, we usually start them at the end of winter into early spring.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...