How to mitigate a dead spot/zone in garden?

A not-so-great discovery this year is that in one of my growing areas there appears to be a four foot by four foot area that struggles to grow anything. A few bean plants got several inches of growth before crisping up and dying. No corn germinated in this area and suspiciously it only had a few weeds pop up. I've had wonderful growth outside of this rough square so it seems localized to the one spot.

There are no nearby trees/bushes that are apparent, no underground utilities, just questionable soil.

What steps would you take to start investigating the soil in hopes of repairing it for the next year?

I'm thinking the easiest first steps may be to do a jar test to inspect the soil makeup, a PH test to see if that is out of whack, and perhaps try to establish a cover crop prior to winter to make sure the beans were not a fluke.

Are you sure there is no underground structure there? I would dig a couple or test pits or probe to confirm you haven't a hard pan just under the surface.

That being said the fact you're getting poor germination even of weeds make me wonder about possible gick residue. It may be worth top dressing with a good live compost and seeing if anything grows next year. Alternatively a thick layer of woodchip could support fungi for bioremediation.

I have an area on my property yhat I bought in 2013 that doesn't grow anything.

It was the spot where the previous owner burned building materials while building the house.

I assume lots of gypsum and cedar.

I have just ignored this area though if I wanted to build soil health I would start by adding lots of organic matter.

A compost pile build on the area might be a good start.

Wood chips, fall leaves, grass clippings, veggie scraps would be a good start.

Then start growing mushrooms.

Some helpful threads:

https://permies.com/t/219569/composting/Composting-Ratios

https://permies.com/t/160/120453/Great-Wood-Chips

https://permies.com/t/176222/Experiences-Growing-Mushrooms

Best wishes for your success!

Yeah when it's that localized it's usually something specific to that patch. The burning materials history Anne mentioned is a good shout. Woodchips over a couple seasons worked surprisingly well for a similar dead corner at my place.