For an instant nitrogen shot, you can add some alfalfa pellets. No you won't end up with alfalfa growing there. Its safe.

You can purchase it at a feed store, mix it in the soil and and then water. You can re plant right away. I think I'd add more compost too.

I scatter a handful of alfalfa pellets around all my plants from time to time. Also spread it in the grass.

If you aren't going to re plant this season, another thing you can do is start burying your kitchen scraps right in the bed. Start at one end and work your way down. You may want to mulch the bed to keep weeds out until you are ready to plant again.

I don't pretend to understand the chemistry behind it, but some of the gurus on the Soil Forum claim that too much organic material, during the "breakdown" process, can deplete the soil of nitrogen. I think I'd try amending the bed with potting soil.

I had the same problem, and I sprinkled a little blood meal around each of my tomato plants and watered it in. Within two days, my plants were darker green and much healthier looking. You have to be really careful with blood meal though, available N is 13%, so a little bit goes a long way. I ordered the blood meal from sustainableseedco.com but I know you can get it at wells bros in Plano, and maybe even big box stores. Also, dogs are absolutely obsessed with it so keep that in mind if it's a factor for you.

Natalie1313 has good recommendations. Add back nitrogen through sources like blood meal and other non-chemical based. I'd focus on the pH as well, as it is probably too slanted on the acidic side. It's easier to make it more alkaline anyway (than acidic), so that's in your favor.

Hopefully the animal-product compost you are using has settled down enough, through time. Using it at too early (too fresh) will cause problems with too much amnonia, bateria, etc. which will destroy your plants.

If all else fails, you could dig up the soil/etc. and start over with quality soil, compost, and mulch. You do use mulch right? This is Texas after all.

Thanks, I'll see what I can do. I hate to just give up for the season, but if I can't get anything to grow there (besides the chives, they are o.k....go figure), it may be best to add better material and let it sit there until fall. To be honest...I use mulch when I can afford to buy what I prefer to use--I don't like chipped up pine bark for several reasons...often I just put a rough bag of compost on top. I'm leery of trying to alter the pH without knowing how exactly it got that way. I need to test the other bed to see how it compares--I'm curious.

I have one small bed that has had stunted, miserable growth on everything I plant in it. In my case, however, I did figure out the reason. I had used black mulch on this bed (I had always used native mulch prior to this)and after researching causes of this situation, I found out, while attending a soil seminar that black mulches sometimes have dyes that have toxins in them. I hope you can figure out what your soil problem is.
Molly