how do you guys fill your raised beds?

[lawless23456]

hi guys and gals

im building a few raised beds in my garden just wondering how you guys fill them when you've made them? do you buy topsoil from b and q (or any other garden centre) or do you buy a bulk bag? im thinking about buying a 1 tonne bulk bag

lawless

[deezyb]

hey lawless...i filled mine with multi purpose the first year...but it needs bulked up with manure, rotted leaves etc year after year...my first year was fab with growing, but i didn't concentrate too much on replacing nutrients the second year so didn't have such a good yield! learning now though!

[lawless23456]

i was thinking fill with top soil and add a certain ratio of compost to topsoil type thing? for example 1 bag compost to 4 bags topsoil

[DaveInBraknell]

Filling Raised Beds

Hi,

I filled mine with some topsoil from Rolawn I had last year from doing the front lawn.

I then added in the soil from my potato buckets, this year I have also added a fair old bit of manure from sainsburies (4 for 3 bags)

In the end ir depends what you want to grow, but for generic bed, bit of top soil, some manure and some left over potting compost.

But remember dig down below the new raised bed by about a spadeful, it helps the depth and drainage. Don't worry if the soil is rubbish down there as you'll build it up from the bed.

Dave

[snohare]

Lots and lots and lots of humus - leaves, newspapers, cuttings, well composted bark chippings and wood chips, even small twigs. Then topsoil, with differing varying amounts of manure, either chicken manure or horse, according to what I am growing.
My soil is particularly free draining, it is a sandy loam, so I am not so much worried about lack of drainage, more leaching of nutrients due to lack of water retention.
Lack of soil for beds has been my biggest problem. I would suggest that huge quantities of leaf litter is the cheapest bulking up option, with a good long term benefit that it develops a very good soil structure and microbial and myccorhizal ecosystems. It should work on all soils, too. Drawbacks are that you may import slugs, it flattens out considerably over time, and leaf litter itself has little or no plant nutrition in it.
Beware when buying topsoil in bulk - every farmer will tell you yes, it's good stuff, but some will then dump two tonnes of crap subsoil or clay lumps on your doorstep, laughing all the way to the bank. The contract growers I know wouldn't know good topsoil from a hole in the ground !

[rodofgod76]

I'm building a raised bed next weekend, and was going to fill it with topsoil (was looking at the sterilised stuff in B&Q) and an equal amount of multi purpose compost plus a couple of bags of sand or grit. Then I saw the bulk bags of Rolawn Vegetable Topsoil which would work out only slightly more than buying individual bags. Anyone have any experience of this Rolawn topsoil???

[selfraising]

Mine is a complete mix of mpc, garden compost, garden soil, manure and humus and whatever else I can find to bulk it out with

[Pickle]

We've just filled our new raised beds with fruit and vegetable topsoil from Rolawn. I've also dug in the the compost from the potato palnters I had last year. Until I grow some things though I have no idea as to whether or not to recommend it other than the fact it is lovely soil, easy to work and no stones

[Lazgaot]

How about spent mushroom compost? I looked into it last year when I was considering raised beds. I can't remember the company or the phone number though, but it wasn't too expensive, it was the delivery cost that added quite a bit to it.

[piskieinboots]

I used a mix of compost (multi), top soil, compost (home grown)

[DaveInBraknell]

Hi,

I used majority rowlawn topsoil in my raised beds last year. Not used the veggie soil.

I grew massive parsnips in it My onions are doing reasonably well (Grew from seed last year).

It is a bit more denser than the soil at my allotment and tends to hold a fair bit of water so make sure you have good drainage, the worms love it, had a 6inch worm come up with a handful of soil last night

In my opinion it does need some extra bulk put in, if I had to do it again I would put in the topsoil then put in a couple of bags of manure just to give it a bit of air

Dave

[kitchengardner]

hi guys and gals

im building a few raised beds in my garden just wondering how you guys fill them when you've made them? do you buy topsoil from b and q (or any other garden centre) or do you buy a bulk bag? im thinking about buying a 1 tonne bulk bag

lawless

I half filled mine with top soil and then filled it to within 1" with horse manure (ensure well rotted if you plan to plant within 3 months) before dressing with multipurpose compost. I operate my raised beds as no-dig ones and so simply dress with compost or well rotted manure whenever needed

Regards

Kitchen Gardener

[Victoria26]

I'm gonna be double digging my new beds next week and adding compost to bulk it out. (I'm not looking forward to it to be honest but I have to start somewhere!)