Advice welcomed - installing a raised bed

[Marge Simpson's hair]

Hello,

I'm a total novice who wouldn't mind a bit of advice please. I recently purchased 2 raised bed kits both 1 m square, we are planning to do something with them this weekend.
My first question is what do I fill it with?
I have been looking at various sites on the internet and though they offer plenty of good advice none of them actually say what kind of soil to put in or what nutrients to add (if any)

I know it's a silly question but I hope somebody can assist

Thanks.

[TEB]

I filled mine with a mixture of topsoil and compost, didnt use manure because I was planningon growing root veg and manure can cause forking.

[Marge Simpson's hair]

Thanks for replying so quickly I thought it might be something like that but I didn't know.

[astroman]

I filled mine with a mixture of topsoil and compost, didnt use manure because I was planningon growing root veg and manure can cause forking.

Can you use just compost or do you need to add topsoil as well?

[TEB]

You can just use compost but I had quite a lot of topsoil handy.

[OllieMartin]

You need to decide what to grow first, then that should help dictate your soil content.

Avoid growing a total mixture because different things will like different soils, E.g. Don't grow root veg and potatoes together as potatoes will like manure, root veg won't.

Do you have any ideas what kinds of things you'd like to grow?

[Two_Sheds]

Start off with a good weed-free topsoil, and mix in some well-rotted garden compost if you have some.

Multi-purpose compost can be too 'fluffy' ... a John Innes No.3 has a bit more body

[Florence Fennel]

Don't know how deep your beds are Marge, but I put wet cardboard and newspaper in the bottom of mine to both prevent the weeds coming through and to save on the amount of compost I had to add (as I had no topsoil). Although they are filled with only compost that dries out quite quickly, I have still had lots of success and have grown carrots, cabbage, cauliflower and onions in them. Good luck and welcome to the vine.
Flo

[Marge Simpson's hair]

Thanks for all the advice

We actually have two 1m square beds (they were on special offer) so I was thinking of growing something like carrots, cauliflower and peas in one and potatoes and whatever else I can grow alongside potatoes in the other.
I haven't really decided yet, we are going to the garden center tomorrow to have a look and see what they've got.

I'm quite excited, I never thought I would see a day when I got excited over a vegetable patch

Thanks once again everyone, you have all been very helpful.

[HayleyB]

MSH I don't know what part of Cambs you are but near us there is a place that sells compost at £1.50 per bag at a guess 50-60 litres per bag and it's really rich good quality from a recycling-mad councillor farmer

Peas - you need a lot of plants to provide one meal for a family

[Marge Simpson's hair]

Thanks Hayley, I am in south Cambs near Milton. I think there may be somebody around here that sells stuff like that, I vaguely remember seeing a roadside sign somewhere. I will have to go out for a cycle ride and see if I can see it again.

There are only two of us so we won't need too many peas

[HayleyB]

Homer will love 'em

[BFG]

I improvised with mine. It would have cost a fortune in bought stuff.

I started off with loads of cardboard, newspaper, magazines, even an intact yellow pages, then a load of (quite woody) hedge trimmings, then a wheelie bin full of moss I'd scraped off the garage roof, some straw a load of mail order trees had been packaged with, loads of leaves and then finally my compost heap, rough stuff from the top 1st.

Basically anything organic you can get hold of. Treat it like an in situ compost heap.

I just made holes filled with compost to plant into.

It worked well. There's some nice soil there now.

[Florence Fennel]

That's good advice from BFG Marge - it takes an awful lot of compost bags to fill a raised bed - I know from the first one I filled only with compost, it took about 20 bags!

[Florence Fennel]

Oh and BTW, Hayley is absolutely right about the peas. I have three wigwams with 6 pea plants on each cane and there are only two of us (unless my family come for a meal). I'm harvesting now, but it takes a hell of a lot of pods to get enough for a boiling! I'm planning on more next year.