Follow these easy steps to make the most out of your raised garden bed space and save money on filling your bed.
Filling raised garden beds uk.
Topsoil mulch and similar products are sold in cubic feet or yards.
If we have several really deep big beds to fill at once we buy some organic soil and compost in bulk from a local landscape company and have it delivered.
Add branches and leaves.
Take a look below at six great methods for filling your raised beds on a budget.
I only made 4 new beds each year.
I filled my 15cm high beds with a mixture of spent compost from summer bedding displays soil mined from spoil heaps at the ends of the plot leaf mould and compost from the garden bins and in time the allotment compost heap.
Build a trench around 8 12 inches deep and about 1 2 feet down the middle of the raised bed.
Fill the raised bed to the top or near the top.
Good compost is rich in organic matter has good moisture retention great for soil structure and can provide lots of nutrition for plants.
Multiply the length and width in feet to figure out the area of your raised garden.
On the other hand if you need to fill just one modest raised bed or two purchasing bagged soil could be the way to go.
These steps can be used whether you have an existing raised bed or you are filling up a new empty raised bed.
The problem with compost is getting it cheaply in enough quantity to fill a raised garden bed.
If you re planting flowers leave some space between the top of the soil and the top of the bed.
It takes a huge amount of soil to raise the level.
And to separate the surface soil from your regular soil.
Compost is the ultimate soil.
Build a trench for the core.
Filling raised beds with compost.
Calculate how much soil you need to fill your raised garden.
This will reduce their watering needs.
Bulk soil composition and type will vary depending on your location.
When building raised beds on top of hard surfaces ensure a depth of at least 45cm 18in but ideally 60cm 2ft so that plants can root deeply.
Dove sounds about right in a brand new allotment we deturfed built raised beds from scaffold boards 4 each one each side one cut in half for the ends then filled with top soil then covered with local farmyard manure full tractor load 20 filled 7 of these beds and left it to the worms without a shadow of a doubt the raised beds are the way to go almost no work at all to maintain them once done and 5 monthes later the soil is all mixed and ready to go thanks to the critters in the soil.
If an existing raised bed is being utilized just push the soil to the sides or temporarily remove the soil.
40 soil bulk soil.
Place the soil directly on top of the layer of cardboard or newspaper.
Bury any turf removed in making the beds in the lower levels of soil in the bed to enrich the soil as it decays.
We re building hugelkultur raised beds which means we re filling 1 3 of them with rotting wood.
Then multiply that number the area and the depth in feet to calculate the amount of soil in cubic feet you need to fill your garden.