New raised veggie garden

[Kina]

Hi,

I am in the process of building 4 x 1.2 mtr square raised vegetable borders in the garden which are 45cm high. Under them is approx 6" of imported soil which is on top of (probably) compacted clay soil (this is where the garage used to be before we pulled it down.)
My question is what do I fill them with? I do not have any garden compost or soil I can use and I have searched online and seem to be only finding veg compost/top soil at about £75+ ton/big bags - which of course I cannot guarantee the quality of! And I am worried about non local companies getting their big lorries into our estate.
My local garden centre has suggested the 50l bags of Levington multi compost with added John Innes and actually, bagged compost would be more convenient to get into the back garden than wheelbarrow loads.

I can see that this is going to be an expense and I just want to get it right! Can anyone guide me in the right direction please?

Kina

[Dusty Rhodes]

Welcome to the forum!

I recommend using the search engine here to research your query. Eventually Grapes will come along to help out. I found this thread about bagged compost that is interesting:

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ost_66176.html

[Florence Fennel]

Hello Kina and welcome to the Vine. As Dusty says, you can search the Forum, there are lots of threads about filling raised beds, some using the lasagne method (layers of cardboard, newspaper, green waste etc.) It'll be a bit of an expense filling them just with compost and you need a bit of topsoil or other material to make them "firm" if you are thinking of growing brassicas. More people will be along soon to advise you, I'm sure, good luck

[horticultural_hobbit]

I have a dozen newly built raised beds. I too had the similar problem, of needing tonnes and tonne of dirt. Then I had an idea, of the 'ooh' kind. I have filled the beds with green waste. So grass clippings and also leaves. Some are also filled with half cooked leaf mold. The leaf mold is now covered with either cardboard or newspaper so that it continues cooking. I plan to keep piling in green waste-once the lawns have been cut for the final time-or more leaves once they start falling. Then, hopefully, by spring, I won't need so much compost. Ask your neighbours, for grass clippings and leaves.

And most importantly, Good Luck

[veggiechicken]

Hello Kina and welcome to the Vine.
Does your local council supply green waste compost? Some do and some don't, also some charge and others give it away. If you can get hold of some it may give you a head start on filling your beds.
You don't have to fill your beds to the top immediately. Just put in what you can and add to it when you have the material to do so. Over a few years, they'll soon fill up!
Happy Gardening

[Two_Sheds]

what do I fill them with? ... finding veg compost/top soil at about £75+

I have filled the beds with green waste. So grass clippings and also leaves...cardboard or newspaper ...

I had 5 raised beds to fill at school, and no budget.

It was hard work, but I filled them with the same as HH, plus chopped weeds and kitchen waste/fruit peelings etc.






Bigger pics here

[Kina]

Thankyou for your replies so far...

it is the threads like the 'B&Q' compost ones that have made me so wary about what I am getting for my money.
We only have a small garden and so don't produce alot of composting material. On top of that the compost bins we have are in the shade of a few Lleylandii trees and so are not composting down very fast (at least I think that is the reason - but that's another problem for another day!)
So really the only thing we have any amount of is grass cuttings and surely too much of that isn't good anyway.

I have also read about compost from the local recycling works often not being of a good quality because there is very little control on what people put in the bins ie diseased items, perennial weeds and thicker vegetation.

Kina

[Two_Sheds]

it is the threads like the 'B&Q' compost ones that have made me so wary

You don't want that kind of compost anyway: you want topsoil (screened topsoil), or John Innes No.3, which is soil based.

You don't want the loose fluffy MPC that most people think of as compost.

We only have a small garden and so don't produce alot of composting material.

So do I ~ I steal leaves and weeds from verges, cycle lanes and wasteland. I beg peelings and scraps from the market, I beg coffee grounds from Starbucks etc, grass clippings from my neighbours. I scoop up molehill soil.

[veggiechicken]

Kina , here is a link to recent discussion on here about Council compost http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ost_67565.html

[Kina]

Hi,
the most economical option I have been offered so far is top soil @ £35 a ton and mushroom compost @ £45 ton with a £35 delivery charge for up to 5 ton bags. They were foremost a turf company but said it was this mix they always sold to people for veggie beds but it is my understanding that mushroom compost doesn't have any nutrients.

Kina

[Two_Sheds]

Mushroom compost / Royal Horticultural Society

I feel that you don't like the information that I'm giving you, Kina. But I have been there, done that, when I set up the school veg beds with no money, and I'm passing on what I learned.

If you're buying, it's screened top soil that you want, and it's in the region of £100 a ton. There is a reason that others are so much cheaper ~ they are going to be full of weeds, weed seeds, rubble etc ~ simply rubbish soil from someone's driveway.

We had absolutely no money, so I spent several weeks begging, scrounging & gathering all the compostable materials that I could find (just me, nobody else volunteered!). I carried a black sack of leaves on the back of my bike every day for most of that winter, and I got 3 beds filled in just that one winter. By spring we were off and running, with full beds.

I now top them up every year with the compost that we produce in the veg garden, and autumn leaves.

[Kina]

Thank you for your replies Two Sheds- I appreciate that you are trying to pass on knowledge from your own experiences but the facts are that we do not have that much garden/vegetable waste (we are a couple not a family which also doesn't help) and that filling these borders that way will take years.

Based on that, I am willing to pay for my impatience but want to pay for the right thing.for example. I don't want to use mushroom compost if its not the right thing to mix in or good enough and I don't want to use the Levingtons MPC with added John Innes if that is not going to be the right mix either.

Thank you for the comment about the price of decent topsoil though, it was the answer I was expecting (but didn't want to hear.)

[chris]

"normal" soil will have enough nutrients in for a years growth, generally anyway.. So you can fill and start to grow - then just improve as you go on.

I bought in topsoil, it was terrible. Full of plastic, glass, rubble - if I bought again I'd go for a decent firm, such as rolawn, etc.

[rustylady]

Kina, you don't have to fill your beds to the brim immediately. As Chris says just fork over what you have for now and add grass cuttings, compost, etc as you go.

[thegreatcob]

go with compost not the screened topsoil
the compost has more nutrients and is better for growing veg.