Filling a raised bed

[happysusan]

Hi there,

I have two raised beds to fill that I made out of pallets. They are 1 pallet by 2 pallets long, roughly 1.2 x 2.4m. I have done loads of YouTube and Google searching and found great advice. My soil seems ok, but it's very shallow and I need to deter my little boys from running over everything. I have a large volume to fill, but found a guy with well rotted manure locally giving it away for free. I was going to add this up to 50%, then topsoil. I noticed lots of topsoil going free on gumtree, but my husband has put me off. He's worried that the soil will be full of random bits like stones and plastic, even asbestos. Has anyone had any experience of freebie stuff? I can afford topsoil now I've found free manure, but I'd rather buy soil improvers. I've looked at lasagna gardening but can't get enough free leaves and grass cuttings etc. I want to grow this year too. I want to add vermiculite (£1 in Poundland for a little bag) and Coconut Coir (40l £4 Wilko) too. Is this a good price and what proportions are people using? The Mel's Mix seems a bit extreme to me. I'm planning on getting a wormery and compost bin for future amendments to the soil, plus free fertiliser ideas from around the web like nettle tea. What have you done?

[Cadalot]

Build up the soil gradually, if you leave it a little low you can add material and feed the soil each year, if you fill it to the top, your a little stuffed next year and you end up with a bed with a curved top in the middle because it's over full.

Too late now but leaves, compost, I dispose of the Coir & multipurpose compost from my 22 flower buckets onto the beds as soil improver each year on a new bed. If you add manure now make sure you grow something in the bed that loves manure and not things that don't.

[DannyK]

Buying vermiculite or perlite in small bags is a waste of money. 100lt sacks are about £20/25 on internet.
Some garden centres might order them in for you but you need to watch price.

[Bigmallly]

Hello Susan & welcome to the vine. When I first got my Lottie, I half filled the beds with straw then topped them up to the brim with well rotted manure. I had great results. The soil/manure/compost is only a holding medium, you can adjust the conditions & feed to your requirements.

[Jay-ell]

Hello Susan

Mens mix isn't really needed - especially if you are going to grow down into the soil. For the cost of the coir and vermiculite you could get alot more compost if you shop around.

Your local council may be able to supply composted soil improver in bulk (it's surprising how much a bed actually needs to fill it up).

You don't have to fill it all in one go - you can top it up as you go. The soil will settle and reduce a bit each wear anyway. Any mulches you apply through this season will be incorporated into the soil and bring it up a bit for next season.

[happysusan]

Thanks everyone, the straw plus manure option sounds good, as does not filling it to the top 🙂

[happysusan]

Manure Manure Manure!

Hi! I went to see the Manure today and boy do they have plenty of it! Some of its 10 years old and looks lovely (well as lovely as it can look), but there's fresh every day. This got me thinking... I was going to put straw down then a mix of well rotted and topsoil. But a google search on hotbeds made me wonder about adding layers of fresh Manure and straw (or whatever their bedding is) in the bottom, then putting the well rotted stuff on top. I could put a bit of polycarbonate on top, maybe some sort of hoop house. Would this be perfect for courgette, cucumber, chilli, tomatoes, aubergine? My only worry would be the height required as I may shade out another bed. I was going to put these in my pop up greenhouse.

[Bigmallly]

I wouldn't put anything fresh in the bed, it will be full of Ammonia. When breaking down it will also rob the bed of Nitrogen. Definitely use the 10 year old stuff though. The blacker the better.

[bhups]

I'm in a bit of the similar boat you are in, as to what to fill my raised garden bed with.
I can get loads of green waste (grass clippings), but not much leaves for brown waste.
Would shredded paper suffice in place of leaves for brown waste? I can get a whole load of shredded paper from work.

[johnjohn]

^^^paper (shredded is good) and cardboard both count as brown waste. Your right it's easy to get the green but brown is more difficult. Every autumn I lay newspaper and/or cardboard and/or leaves and cover with manure except where I'm going to grow roots.