Hi everyone,

This is my first year growing vegetables. I built 3- 8'x4'x10' raised beds for various tomato plants I have. Long story short all my beds are now 80% "cold" compost what should I add to ensure proper water retention and drainage. I live in the northeast.

Thank you

to the site, and gardening

These resting on the ground? I am confused about the dimensions. Are they 10 inches tall? Cold compost, as in fall leaves mostly?

I would fill the rest with topsoil, or local dirt, and plant. The plants will root down in there, I think it'll be fine. In fall you can mix it up some and will have room to add more compost and soil.

But we'll see what others say.

This is what I would recommend, too. Be sure to put your supports for the tomato plants in place when you plant to avoid damaging the roots later on. This is what I did in my raised bed. Pic below.

Sally,
Thank you. My bad if my dimensions were hard to understand they are 8' long 4' wide and 10" tall. Yes they are resting on the ground but I put a 1/4 gap at the bottom so they aren't exactly on the ground. I figured I was just going to add some bags of "garden soil" to get some retention and drainage with the bag mix. "Cold Compost" is just how it's processed. I have a lot of free time on my hands with what's going on so I want to make sure I do everything perfect so I can also donate all my extra because right now I have 26 beef steak bushes and 10 heirloom plants. Any guidance would be great.

sallyg said: to the site, and gardening

These resting on the ground? I am confused about the dimensions. Are they 10 inches tall? Cold compost, as in fall leaves mostly?

I would fill the rest with topsoil, or local dirt, and plant. The plants will root down in there, I think it'll be fine. In fall you can mix it up some and will have room to add more compost and soil.

But we'll see what others say.

What would you recommend for indeterminate tomato plants? I thought about some heavy rope that's connects to twine that I can pull up as they grow. Any ideas are welcome

gardenfish said: This is what I would recommend, too. Be sure to put your supports for the tomato plants in place when you plant to avoid damaging the roots later on. This is what I did in my raised bed. Pic below.

You will need heavy support for indeterminate tomatoes. I'm thinking what you're talking about is called the Florida weave. Google it to find out about it. Me? I got tired of dealing with all the traditional ways to stake them, so I took a 20' cattle panel and arched it over the bed, attaching it to both sides. All I have to do is tie the vines to the panel as they grow. By the end of last summer I had a tomato tunnel going on! Of course, I had to use a ladder to get to the top. BTW, you're beds look great!