Filling Raised Beds Cheaply!!

[darloboy]

Hi

We have got a new allotment this year, with poor clay soil. I have built raised beds around a foot deep and need to fill them.

I have heard conflicting methods of the best way to do this, so am after some advice. What I can say is that in our locality there is unlimited supplies of fresh farmyard manure, I have access to lots of shredded paper via my work, and my partners auntie normally bags 100+ bags of leaves this time every year which I have access to.

Is there anything I can do using the above to help fill the beds over the next few months, with a view to topping off with some good quality top soil next spring? Is there anything else cheap and obvious I am missing? Any suggestions welcome, obviously there are lots of raised beds so cost is something we need to control!!

Thanks in advance
Craig

[Newton]

Wow....you have access to good materials. You just need time for them to compost together.......How about filling some beds and leaving them to rot down and filing others with more topsoil mixed in.

[Two_Sheds]

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...eds_61556.html

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...eds_44970.html

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...eds_43469.html

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...eds_30936.html

[kathycam]

I'm in London and can get hold of manure, so I'm sure in most other places there would be a supply too. What we used is the "compost" you get back from the council, they call it soil improver. I don't know if they do it in your area. They often have days when they give it away from the local tip. The stuff isn't great, but could add bulk. It improves with time, so if you got some now, it might be decent by spring. If you're doing some non raised bans, you could try adding sharp sand. Seemed to helps our clayey soil a bit. One of our best beds is a mixture of straw, leaves, manure, veg waste, cardboard, soil improver and regular compost.

[darloboy]

Thanks for your help guys. If I fill now the lasagne method should I then cover until spring or if using this method should I wait until spring then plant straight into it?

Also I didn't read on lasagne about using sharp sand, should I not use this? I have a spare tonne!!

Thanks

[rustylady]

Fill your beds now. I wouldn't put the sand in the beds, it would be better to use on the clay direct (forked in).

By the way, whereabouts are you? If you add your location (nearest town will do) to your profile it will show up on your posts. You can see from my posts that I live in Lowestoft. Location can make quite a difference to advice given.

[Drunken Allotaholic]

Hello,

Last year I built my raised beds to start with I emptied the contents of my compost bin into the bottom of the beds not alot between the two of them I then found an ad on freecycle and collected a few bags of top soil for free!

I then put my remaning bags of compost on top of the top soil this is the first year I had experienced growing in something other than a pot I was pleased with the results!

All the best.

[Two_Sheds]

If I fill now the lasagne method should I then cover until spring or ...should I wait until spring then plant straight into it?

Not sure what you're asking there.

If you top with a clean layer of topsoil/compost/molehill soil, then you can plant straightaway, ie now.