raised beds

[angie a]

This will be my first year with 5 raised beds, but I'm not sure what to top them all up with. I have chicken manure pellets & home-made compost available. My crops are mainly roots, legumes, & leeks. ( I've given up on cabbages!!) Advice please!

[skeggijon]

i cover mine with cardboard and then stick a mixture of compost and manure on top.

[Chippy Minton]

You might get some funny shaped roots with that lot though

[Kirk]

I would add just about anything but they will need manure as I find that nutrients sort of leak out of the soil, either get used or washed down I suppose.

As I had potato's in 2 large pots that were in a mix of compost+manure I simply emptied that on to mine and I have a bag of manure to add to it all.

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Ange! Depends on how serious ya wanna be about growing your own!

Once I set up my beds I bought a few bags of quality top soil (cost around 80 squid) n mixed it 50/50 with homemade compost!

Bear in mind, the "Goodies" ya get in return are only gunna be as good as the soil ya stick em in!

[Spunky]

Have a look if there a composting site local to you, if they have I'd just mix it with manure which you can also get you're hands on free
I had a small raised bed it cost me a fortune to fill with shop bought compost!

[Jay22]

Quick question about raised beds. I had mine up against the fence. Next door built a new extension which now blocks the sun coming through the fence during the morning and part of the afternoon. I want to move it to a sunny spot in the garden...do you think they will survive the move or should I just buy some new ones? They have only been set up for a year.

[Jay-ell]

What's underneath your beds and how deep are they?

I'm in the process of doing raised beds as well. Mine ar on earth and are 6" deep. I'm digging thou soil over to the depth of a spade and mixing in well rotten manure. This is fluffing up the soil and enriching it to a reasonable depth and un-campacting the soil underneath. Because the soil is being fluffed I don't need as much compost/manure.