I have two raised beds built and filled at the same time. One grows normally. In the other, plants are smaller and the soil surface stays wet longer after watering.
They get almost the same sun. The weaker bed may be a little lower in the yard, so drainage is my first suspicion.
Before adding compost or fertilizer, I am thinking I should dig a few test holes after watering and compare how long the lower layers stay saturated. Is there a better simple test for drainage differences between beds?
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If the plants are smaller in that bed, I’d be thinking drainage before fertilizer too. A wet root zone can make nutrients matter less than a...
If the plants are smaller in that bed, I’d be thinking drainage before fertilizer too. A wet root zone can make nutrients matter less than airflow and root health.
Your test is sensible. I’d just compare both beds side by side so you have a reference.
Side by side makes sense. I’m wondering if the lower bed gets runoff from somewhere, though, not just poor drainage in the bed itself.
If water is entering one bed from the surrounding soil, the test holes might tell you more than the surface does.