compost or top soil?

life_in_termoil

I have purchased linkabord to make raised beds and these will need to be filled with top soil or compost. BUT which is better?

Yorkie1

For a permanent bed, I'd go for top soil every time if you can stretch to it.

Multi-purpose compost contains only enough nutrients for about 6 weeks of growth; after that, it becomes exhausted and you need to add fertilisers to compensate.

Compost also doesn't have the long-lasting structure that loam / soil does. Compost will need topping up annually, soil won't.

Lotus-eater

Top soil with added rotted manure.

fimonkey

Ah wish I'd have read thsi before making my raised beds, I plunged for compost with added vermiculite. I'm growing carrots, onions, tomatoes, courgettes and strawberries in these. I've already started feeding my tomotoes every two weeks,.. when should I begin feeding the others if the compost only has enough nutrients for 6 weeks, and what's the best feeder to use?
Thanks

Also meant to say, since filling my beds I've sinced seen heaps of ads on freecycle giving away topsoil! Typical!

A._Badger

fimonkey wrote: »

Ah wish I'd have read thsi before making my raised beds, I plunged for compost with added vermiculite. I'm growing carrots, onions, tomatoes, courgettes and strawberries in these. I've already started feeding my tomotoes every two weeks,.. when should I begin feeding the others if the compost only has enough nutrients for 6 weeks, and what's the best feeder to use?
Thanks

Also meant to say, since filling my beds I've sinced seen heaps of ads on freecycle giving away topsoil! Typical!

You'll find the level dropping whatever you use, so when you top-up you can add topsoil and just mix it in.

As for fertiliser, it depends to an extent on what you are trying to grow. Crops that like nitrogen (brassicas, for example) will enjoy chicken pellets and these are also fairly rich in the trace elements which will be leeched out of multipurpose over the months.

Another good choice would be blood, fish and bone or (expensive) Vitax Q4, if you're not hung-up about 'organics'. If I were growing potatoes, for example, I'd avoid a high N fertiliser. Indeed, in my spud bed I use Vitax, as it's higher in Potassium.

In the long run soil is a much better bet for a raised bed,so gradually increasing the proportion of soil and adding lots of manure and compost (at the right times and bearing in mind what they can do to the pH) is definitely the way to go.

Hope that's some help.

a1cat

Topsoil for sure

malamala

How stupid of me to think compost must be better than topsoil for raised beds!

I am today awaiting delivery for a bulk bag of compost! We have plenty of topsoil in our garden. We were just worry about the weeds in our soil, so we thought compost would be better for growing our own veg.

There were many weeds in the soil, but we kept digging in the past months and removed numerous weed roots as best as we could.

Question now: For our new raised beds, shall we mix compost with soil instead of just using compost?

Lotus-eater

malamala wrote: »

Question now: For our new raised beds, shall we mix compost with soil instead of just using compost?

Yes, it will be much better.

rabidbun

I used compost in mine and it dried out very fast and also needed topping up a lot at the end of the growing season, so def a mix as others have said. I also tend to throw in some manure, blood fish and bone or organic chicken pellets depending on what I am growing.

To refill them I usually just dump my old pot compost onto them these days (I don't plant toms or tatties in the beds as that is usually what was in the pots) and let the worms mix it in, as they did a great job mixing through the clay beneath the beds within a year or two.

life_in_termoil

Thanks for all the replies. I have 500 litres of compost and will be purchasing 800 litres of top soil so I can mix it.

justjohn

life_in_termoil wrote: »

I have purchased linkabord to make raised beds and these will need to be filled with top soil or compost. BUT which is better?

why not just well rotted horse manure???

Its free!!

Surely it will be ok if well mixed in??