I have short raised beds and wide walkways. The garden area was clearly built by putting soil on top of grass and adding a little mulch - as you can imagine that has resulted in a lot of grass/weeds for me. Can I solarize the area around my beds, which are inhabited with happy vegetables, without damaging the plants growing in them?
Yes, this should be fine. The solariziation works by trapping the heat from the sun under the plastic. The plants outside the plastic will not experience this heat, even below the soil.
I went out this morning and found my raised veggie garden was on the ground. It was 8 x 4 and 30 inches above ground (4 legs). I think that the slats were either not wide enough or the support beams that the slats rested on were not wide enough, but before I go back to the person who built it, I was wondering if you could give me some suggestions.
If it's not to your liking, especially if you paid someone, then I would definitely bring this to their attention. If you choose not to have this person rebuild it, you may want to consider creating one yourself, which is actually more easy than you may think. In fact, you can even choose the no-dig approach. These articles will help: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/vgen/raised-vegetable-gardens.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/urban/raised-beds-for-urban-settings-no-digging-required.htm
In a raised bed after the growing season is over, is the soil good for the next season or does it have to be changed out?
No, you don't need to change the soil out, but after harvest is a good time to replenish your soil with nutrients for next year. You may find this article helpful: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/what-is-soil-made-of-creating-a-good-garden-planting-soil-type.htm
We built two raised beds for gardening. We got soil from a local bulk soil company and filled up the beds. We planted vegetables and herbs, and while nothing has died, they seem to be living and not really growing. I had a couple of left over cabbage starts that I left in the container it came in, and they are nearly twice the size of the ones in the garden. Obviously, it's a soil problem. How can I amend the soil after planting?
Side dress your beds with compost to help increase the fertility of your soil. When you put those beds down for the winter consider using a cover crop, any of the legumes are great nitrogen fixers and will certain help improve your soil for next year. Check with your local extension office for cover crops that do best in your area. Also get a soil test kit from them.
Finding lots of tiny ants in raised bed.
Use diatemaceous earth---safe around vegetables/fruit. Apply along the traffic lanes, and they should be gone in 4-5 days. The DE cuts through the ants' hard outer shell, and they simply dehydrate.
I used Fir for organic boxes. Do I need to cover the wood?
If it's not been pressure treated, it should be fine. There is the danger of leaching toxic chemicals into your vegetables from the pressure treated type.
I need directions on how to till your raised garden bed to prepare it for planting.
With my raised beds I just use a garden fork. Sticking it down into the soils as far as I can but not past where the fork to handle stem joint is. Then rock back on the fork until the soils turn up. I do this throughout the raised bed, repeating the turning of the soils until I get a nice loose consistancy. If there are any clumps, I either break them up with my hands or smack them with the garden fork which usually breaks them up. Before doing the soils turning I will rake the top surface well and remove the debris I rake up. If there may be alot of seeds in there that I do not want in the new plantings I have planned, I will also lightly use a shop vac on the top surface before tilling it up. Sounds a little crazy I suppose but it does help keep the amount of weed or flower seeds that I have to deal with in my new planting scheme down to a minimum. There are also some small electric tillers that can be used to work the soils up if the garden fork method does not work for you.