Raised beds... empty?

[Amandaod]

I'm having raised beds installed in my garden this week (by a landscaper as they're being put into a steep hill that I didn't trust myself to do), however... they are big! I will have 4 beds, each are 2.5m x 1m x 0.5m.
I wasn't expecting to get them done so quickly, and I'm in no rush to fill and plant them (although keen!). I just wondered though, as it's gonna be damn expensive to fill them all with soil (tips welcome, no access to cheap soil/manure), I was thinking I'd do 1 every couple of months instead so my husband doesn't kill me doing it at once.
Will it be okay for the beds to stay empty while I take my time with it? They wouldn't be damaged with rain etc? Sorry for what might be a stupid question!

[Potstubsdustbins]

They'll be fine, take your time gardening is not about rushing.

[Cadalot]

Ask your family friends and neighbours if you can have their grass clippings and use that together with some shredded paper, coir from the £1 shop and some multipurpose compost on the top and let nature do its thing under it all. I've just filled three Daleks as once people know your after grass cuttings they come at you from all directions.

[Jay-ell]

You could sow a green manure in the empty beds then, when you're ready, cut that down and bury it under the new compost. This will add organic matter and also stop the rain from washing away the free nutrients.

In fact you don't need to fill them to use them if you can grow in the base soil and gradually fill them over the seasons.

As you add compost at the beginning/end of the season, during transplanting and mulching the levels in the beds will gradually rise - although the edges may shade the crops a bit.

What is the base soil like? I'm assuming that the landscaper is going to have to remove some soil to install them, so this can go in with some compost. What are the paths going to be? can you dig out the paths a few inches and add that soil?

Does your council provide green waste composting that you can buy - some councils will flog this off cheap if you buy in bulk.

Do you have any pots you haven't emptied yet? I use the compost from the green house to top up the beds at the end of the year with some home made compost and blood, fish & bone added. I'm also growing tatties in bags so once they have been emptied they will be put aside till I need to add it to a bed.

[Thelma Sanders]

Just make sure that they haven't used any lawn weed killer, before you use grass clippings form someone else.

[Amandaod]

Sadly the soul underneath is awful, typical new build soil I'm not even sure you could call clay, can't even get a fork a couple of inches into it. I guess there's really no rush to fill it to the brim straight away, I was just unsure insured leaving them empty would leave them.. exposed? Bit stupid I suppose! I definitely think I could just fill them a little and then gradually increase over time, I didn't think of that. The price to get the soil from the landscaper to fill them was nearly more than having the 4 beds installed.

I need to get myself some daleks, but my green bin is completely full of grass cuttings I could use.

So it won't hurt if I worked on say 2 of the beds and left the other 2 empty to fill in spring?

[burnie]

Try your council tip or recycling centre, I got a load of composted household garden waste for free, put about 50 percent of this in with soil, manure(where no roots were going) and you don't have to fill them right to the top all at once, I'm adding more each year.

[Jay-ell]

Use 2 of the beds to grow and use the other 2 AS the compost bins Once you fill one with compostable stuff, cover with compost and plant something in it

Check out youtube for lasagne gardening or no dig gardening for how to build up the soil.

e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuNUTTFYArY

[Bigmallly]

I need to get myself some daleks, but my green bin is completely full of grass cuttings I could use.

You need to find some stables or riding schools.

[Bex2012]

Have you looked at buying topsoil in bulk elsewhere? I wouldnt buy from the landscaper, he's only going to go somewhere like wickes or travis perkins, buy the one ton bags and then charge you a huge mark up on them. Most of the big diy stores does the huge one ton bags, they vary anywhere from £70-100. Or have a look on ebay?

[Kirk]

Not sure where in Lanarkshire you are but if you drive and pass a store of B&Q or if there is a Lidl up there (doubtful as the seem Southern UK orientated) then pick up a bag ot two or three of whatever they have as the least expensive at the time.

You will need some manure, B&Q again or a farm/stable supply, at some time. Compost has become an almost sterile medium, the nutrients are added at the packing site. As these wash out you are left with something that is not that great for growing in.

As suggested above you could add grass mowing to any of the expty ones by the time you get round to it they will have composted down even a little and can be simply dug in/mixed.

If you want to grow something now then get a couple of big plastic pots, I use the Wilkinsons ones sort of 18-20 inches across, add compost and manure and plant potato's. When they have grown and been harvested you can tip the used mix into one of the raised beds.

Could be worth adding a few inches of simple compost to each bed in turn and that at least allows the stuff to be incorporated a bit - worms do a grand job - so could make the soil a little easier to big. Not a lot but some.

[Penellype]

I'd put a couple of layers of thick cardboard at the bottom and then use them as compost heaps for anything and everything you can get your hands on. If you chop things finely they will rot down faster. Shredded paper or cardboard is good to add to give some brown to things like grass clippings, and you also need some woody material, again chopped up. Leafy weeds such as nettles and docks are fine (although I would avoid the roots), hedge clippings (the finer the better - chunks of leylandii are not good!) and dead leaves are also good. You'll be surprised how quickly it builds up.