What do you fill raised beds with?

[Iamhanuman]

rodofgod76 that is a serious raised bed
i've just put my raised bed frame together and started building up the layers, but it's not a patch on that!!
i used some wood i found in my shed and drilled and screwed it together a bit, but darn it yours is impressive!

because the soil under mine is pretty good after examination, i've done a generous layer of newspaper and then a good layer or two of straw, pine needles and random bits
awaiting compost!

[rana]

Rodofgod that's a lovely job - I like the mitred corners - perhaps you should be a carpenter.......

[Iamhanuman]

Rodofgod that's a lovely job - I like the mitred corners - perhaps you should be a carpenter.......

i second that
perfect bit of carpentry for the easter weekend!!

[sez]

Raised beds need ridiculous amounts of soil to fill them. I dug some partially-raised beds in my garden and they've had bag after bag of compost and sand added, and loads of used compost from patio pots, and they've barely raised at all! I'd say get the cheapest compost you can, personally ... if you start going for expensive stuff it'll cost you (even more of) a fortune.

[womble]

rodo that is a seriously posh raised bed!

I fill mine like this, I have clay soil, so it's a pain to work, however it does have lots of nutrients in it, so I don't want to get rid of it, I want to improve it. Firstly I dug the paths down a bit and added the soil from that onto the beds, next I added every bit of old compost I had lying around, then I added as much manure and garden compost as I could possibly get into the beds, the next year add anything else that comes to hand, garden compost, manure, more old compost from growing bags etc. It's surprising how quickly it builds up.