Jen Fulkerson

I work for a Co-op, so I get a pretty good price on organic alfalfa pellets.  For the most part I use them when I'm filling a new hugel beet raised bed. My thinking was the wood will rob nitrogen, so  give it extra so the plants don't suffer.  This has worked very well for me. I don't know if I right or wrong, just that I have healthy productive plants.
I usually fertilize two times a year. I sprinkle a mix of what I have before spring and fall planting. Sometimes if I don't have other nitrogen source, I will add some alfalfa pellets to the mix. Again I keep doing it because of the healthy productive plants. Not to say I don't have a non productive plant now and then, or that nothing ever goes wrong, because of course I do.
Yesterday a long time gardener/pro told me to get old alfalfa from someone and mulch around my fruit trees, not only will it help with water retention, but it's a super at suppressing weeds.  He said farmers can't even grow it in the same place for more than 3 years in a row because nothing will grow. I was going to do just that, happy to have a great mulch.  
Then I started to think about all the time I put alfalfa in my raised bed.
My question is have I slowly been poisoning my veggie beds?

A few years ago I planted 3 different raspberry  plants. One died right away, one died a few months later I believe both because of a gopher.  For some reason one survived. 2024 we got quite a few wonderful berries. Last year not so much, I don't remember what kind it is, so I don't know how to prune it. It's still alive, and has sent babies in my raised bed.  This bed is a hugel beet. The bottom is 1/2" hardware cloth.  I would love to remove them from the bed and plant them in a better spot.  The bed itself isn't very deep. what do you think, will it survive?

I know you are thinking this post should be in the Soil category, but I think it is more useful in Gardening for beginners.
If Permies has taught me anything, it's that soil is literally the foundation for gardening. I work at a co-op, and often run the nursery register. people always want an easy cure. Some magic liquid (usually in chemical form) to make things grow better, fix pest problems, battle fungus and so on. All to often building great soil would solve most of the problems.
Even knowing this I was brutally reminded this year. For the second time I tried soil blocking. At first I was so pleased with the results. A soil recipe of 2 parts peat, 2 parts worm castings, and 1 part vermiculite. It was a perfect soil for making soil blocks. The problem is I don't use peat. I didn't understand this soil. At first I over watered experiencing damping off for the last time. Then I didn't water enough. I did finally figure out the happy medium, and what survived looks pretty good. At first I thought it was a watering issue, and on the surface it was , but really it was a soil problem. I have been successfully starting seeds for a few years now, and why I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I hadn't factored in the difference the soil makes.
A good living soil makes a huge difference in growing strong healthy plants

Thank you all, there's lots to think about here.  I think I will spray vinegar around the outside of the bed, and leave the bed alone. I just need to be able to water, and tend to the veggies there.

The ants are covering the fava Bean flowers. I haven't seen any damage to the plant. Honestly I would leave them alone, if they would leave me alone. My first thought when I saw them was I must have aphids.  I didn't see any aphids, but just getting close to the bed I'm crawling with ants, so I haven't gotten a very close look.

I have a raised bed off on its own. The bed is quite shallow, but it is a hugel beet, separated from the soil with 1/2" hardware cloth (to keep gophers out. The year before last it became totally overrun with Bermuda grass. Last spring my son and I removed the bed, repaired the bed, the Bermuda grass took prisoners. removed as much of the weeds I could.  The last corner was very hard to clear because there was so many ants. They were only the little black ants, but there were so many I would become covered in ants and they do bite. I dumped a bunch of diatomaceous earth, and left it for quite a while. I did finish the weeding, and was able to put the bed back. I didn't end up using it until this fall. Again I had to put a bunch of DE before I could prepare and plant the bed. There's been a lot of ants, but not so many I couldn't work in the bed. Until today. the fava beans are covered in ants. I didn't see any aphids, but there were so many ants, and they were getting on me and biting, so I couldn't investigate very well.
So what do I do?  With the exception of this bed, I have never had to bother with ants. But I can't even water this bed without having ants all over me. Should I put a bunch of DE on the soil and plants, should I make up some borax and sugar and put it by that bed? Do both?  What would you do?

Thanks Rebecca, It was a lot of work, but I think it will be worth it. I have all different kinds of roses hybrid teas,  floribunda and even a climber.  My favorite is Black Magic a hybrid tea, it's a very dark velvet red. I wouldn't say red is my favorite color, but this is something special. Mostly I like variety.

I'm so happy to say I'm done. It took me two days to put the wood chips in place. It didn't take that long, but my son didn't move the wood chips until dusk. I worked until I couldn't see anymore. The next day I worked, so pretty much the same scenario. It was the perfect time to do it because it rained not so long ago so the chips were not wet, but not dusty either. I'm not going to lie I didn't enjoy the process, but I'm thrilled it's done.

I put all my little decorations into the garden, and now I will wait for the spring to bring my lots of roses I can enjoy. One of my roses is an overachiever and blooming now.

I love planting all sorts of things in my main veggie garden. There are lots of benefits, and it looks beautiful. I only plant eatable plants.
I'm lousy at marking what I have planted. I write it all down, so I can keep track of when things were planted, varieties I liked, or didn't, but in the garden I often don't label anything. It's not a big deal for me, because I planted it, I recognize a lot of plants by leaf, or what it looks like. Unfortunately this is not the case for my kids.
I was talking with my daughter the other day, and she decides what she is going to pick and eat, by tasting stuff. (they have been around gardening long enough to recognize a tomato plant, so you don't have to worry about them eating those) I just thought it was funny she just nibbles her was through the garden.
It also made me grateful everything in the garden including flowers are eatable.

This fall my son planted peas all over the place. Unfortunately critters eat most of them, but I pointed out some that survived in a pot. the next day he showed me the little trellis he made. I love it. Functional and pretty.