raised bed with compost

[emcap]

Hi everyone,
I have a quick question. I have access to an almost unlimited supply of compost. I am attempting my first garden this year and doing it lasagna style. Since the idea is for everything I'm layering to all break down anyway, could I just dump a good layer of compost over the dirt (the former owners had a garden there, but the soil is quite clayish) and call it a raised bed? Or do a square foot garden just fill it with compost instead of mel's mix or whatever else. I am so new at this and have no idea.
Thanks!

[lunarlady]

Some plants will grow in compost only, but most need a bit more minerals that most compost will not supply in order to set healthy fruit. That said, it depends how "raised" you mean. You could easily do 6-8 inches of compost and be fine, but if you are doing 2 feet, I think you will find your plants struggle. That doesn't mean that you need to dig up the clay. Just get a bit of topsoil and layer it with the compost as you fill the bed.

[emcap]

Thanks so much, sounds good. I figured there was some reason I couldn't do just compost all the way, i just didn't know what it was. The minerals makes sense.