what to fill beds with

[mermaidmama]

My hubby just made some 3x6 raised beds and I was wondering what everyone fills theirs with?

[emnic77]

We had a 50/50 compost/soil mix delivered. A lot of it. We filled our beds with that, and dried leaves from fall, and our own compost. We plan on doing lasagna beds going forward (this is the first year we've had the beds).

[lightheart]

Don't beat yourself up if you don't get them full this first growing season, you can dig the dirt that is already there, planting in it. You can work on making some compost this summer and plan to add enough dirt to fill up the beds at the end of the growing season.

If you know anyone with livestock I'd think about getting some manure and spoiled hay that you can compost quick. You can purchace aged manure also.

[HeatherAtHome]

Can I mix in dead leaves from last fall?

[HeatherAtHome]

bump

[emnic77]

Yep, sure can!

[mermaidmama]

re

Thanks!

[splath]

We used a mix of peat and top soil this year. The top soil was froma swampy area, so it's really rich soil. Next year we plan to work in lots of compost.

[philomom]

I set mine up last fall and filled them to the brim with fall leaves, the compost I had in the bins and spoiled hay from the chicken coop. Now come spring, I topped off each section with a bit of topsoil from a bag and planted in that. So far, so good.

[ivymae]

We built 3 4x8 beds this year, and bought 30/30/30 (black peat soil, organic compost and sand) soil from a local landscaping company. It was $20 per cubic yard, and we needed 3.5 for the beds. Our yard soil is potentially contaminated with lead paint, so we didn't want to risk having that lead leach into our veggies, so the cost was worth it for us. This fall we'll add compost and leaves to the beds before we close them up for winter, so next year they will be ready again.

[Erinz]

I fill mine with aged compost and make sure to water it in well before planting (to be sure it's not hot still). Adding some aged leaves sounds like a really great idea!