top soil? or growbags?

susiesue_2

hi,

i'm so excited:j my raised vegetable beds are being constructed and should be finished by the end of the week-that means i need to fill them with something. 2 6ftx2ftx2ft =??? i can't do maths (approx 48cubic ft of soil? that sounds odd!)

anyway what is the cheapest and best way to fill them? iam intending to grow veg, herbs and salad.

thanks in advance for any replies.

susie;)

Mr_Warren_2

Fill the bottom with hardcore or broken bricks/stones etc in order to facilitate the drainage. I got for mine the cheapest compost available/growbags etc as you can always add good quality compost or fertiliser to help. What do you make of this????

illusio

We found a local company who delivered 8 tonnes of topsoil for £90 (7 veg boxes and a lumpy garden that needs levelling), which we thought was a damned good deal. Only downside is 'topsoil' doesn't necessarily mean 'optimum growing medium', which I didn't realise, being a newbie. It's OK but it's lacking in organic matter and so doesn't soak up or retain water like rich organic matter does. Home Bargains are doing 3 x 75l bags of compost for £10 and mixing this with the topsoil definitely improves it

emptygrape

A tip I got about getting manure was to contact an abattoir as they tend to have lots of cows muck to get rid off, could fill the bottom half

Dave101t

most my soil can be described as 'clay bricks'.
i just dug it over, watered it, broke it to pieces, and piled compost on top

ixwood

I filled mine in layers with anything I could find that was organic, starting with cardboard (and a yellow pages!), loads of of hedge cutting, a wheelie bin full of moss removed from the gar age roof and then the entire compost heap, rough stuff 1st. I then just plant into some multipurpose.

just treat it just a in situ compost heap. Cost = Nothing.

I top up each year with leaves.

brownfrog

illusio wrote: »

Only downside is 'topsoil' doesn't necessarily mean 'optimum growing medium', which I didn't realise, being a newbie. It's OK but it's lacking in organic matter and so doesn't soak up or retain water like rich organic matter does. Home Bargains are doing 3 x 75l bags of compost for £10 and mixing this with the topsoil definitely improves it

Agree with this - you're usually better off mixing soil + multipurpose compost. The soil is often too heavy, holds onto too much water, and doesn't have many nutrients, wherease the MPC tends to lose water very easily and once it has, it's very difficult to get it wet again - the water just runs between the particles and out the other end. Mixing the two gives you the good points of both and reduces the bad. Bung in a bit of garden compost for extra nutrition if you can (if you don't have your own, mushroom compost is usually quite cheap, but can be a bit alkaline for some plants), and you're sorted!

As for the amounts, I generally use about a third of each, but I rely more on how the final mix looks and feels. Usually topsoil (or John Innes compost) is a sort of grey-ish colour, whereas the MPC and garden compost is more brown, so I want the final mix to be somewhere between the two, and it should feel slightly gritty but light and loose.

Oh, and once you've done it, that should be it, apart from topping up each year. Don't forget - you shouldn't walk on raised beds (regardless of what Toby did on GW the other week!) and with the size you've done, you shouldn't have to, so you shouldn't need to dig every year or do any other sort of messing about - just pull out any weeds, top it up with fresh stuff every year and plant. If there are any that you're not likely to use, sow with clover, phacelia or any other sort of green manure to keep the weeds down and improve the soil. They're pretty too, and attract the bees.

Mojisola

I second everything brownfrog said.

[Deleted User]

Contact your local council and find out if your local tip/recycling centre makes or delivers bulk composted waste. Our does and it costs about £35 /ton!

If they have a choice of grades, go for the fine screened grade (the coarser grade is good for mulching borders though)

It's good rich black stuff and is very pleasant to hand in my experience, anmd stuff grows like stink in it - it's also full of groovy bacteria and insects that will boost any future soil or stuff you add to it :j

Didemac73

My local council run recycling centre sells large bags of compost made from all the recycled material they collect it's probably one of the cheapest ways I know for a pretty high grade material.

Beatlefan

We're very lucky cos our council gives everyone a bag of free compost each year to say thank you for recycling their garden waste. It's not a big bag, but still a fair amount of compost, and a very nice gesture!