What to fill a raised veg bed with?

dllive

Hi all,

I have just bought a small raised veg bed (1m x 1m). I dont have any topsoil, but I have half a bag of compost and a ready supply of well rotted manure. 
Can I just fill the raised bed with the manure and the tiny bit of compost that I have? Or will that kill any veg that I plant?
Thanks

DiggerUK

Make sure it's well rotted manure, main problem is slugs. Break it up and spread it over the bed first, rake over daily, the birds will have the slugs. If still a problem when planted sprinkle slug pellets.
Whats the soil already there like. If it is compact dig it over, maybe add a bag of sharp sand. Add your compost at planting time.
Because of the size concentrate on salad plants in summer. Try a row of carrots or onions in second year, the onion seeds can overwinter. Overwinter a couple of brassicas, squeeze in a parsley, but don't over plant. Enjoy..._

dllive

DiggerUK said:

Make sure it's well rotted manure, main problem is slugs. Break it up and spread it over the bed first, rake over daily, the birds will have the slugs. If still a problem when planted sprinkle slug pellets.
Whats the soil already there like. If it is compact dig it over, maybe add a bag of sharp sand. Add your compost at planting time.

Sorry, Im knew to all this, so bare with me:
- How do I know its well rotted manure? It has lots of worms in, but theres also traces of straw. Its certainly not fresh manure. Ive heard fresh manure is not good for plants. I dont know how long the manure has been rotting for.
- There is no top soil (it got scraped away during groundworks). All I have is clay, and then subsoil under that. Hence why I dont have any top soil to add to my veg bed, only manure and half a bag of compost! I could get some top soil from Facebook Marketplace (people are giving it away) but it all looks very stoney!

greenbee

I get stony topsoil from by brother - I have a garden sieve and get a lot of exercise sieving it! I mix the topsoil with a mixture of home-made and commercial compost depending on what's available, and usually add some rockdust as well for minerals. 

Davesnave

dllive said:

 I could get some top soil from Facebook Marketplace (people are giving it away) but it all looks very stoney!

  Get a few trial bags and a 3/8" sieve, or similar, and get sieving. I have very stony soil, so I take it as given that wherever I make a new lawn or bed there will be days of prep. As I do a lot of sieving, I've made up a frame that fits over the barrow and covered it in somewhat wider mesh than 3/8", but the principle's the same.

If you just put compost and/or manure into your deep bed it will not be a very firm substrate for plant roots. You might get away with it in a polytunnel etc but outdoors you'll get a lot of wind rock damage.

Montysmam

It might be worth putting a shout out in your local area to see if anyone is trying to get rid of top soil as so many people are working on garden projects at the moment, there may be some happy for you to take it away! Use that as your base then top it with the manure and compost.

Farway

Montysmam said:

It might be worth putting a shout out in your local area to see if anyone is trying to get rid of top soil as so many people are working on garden projects at the moment, there may be some happy for you to take it away! Use that as your base then top it with the manure and compost.

A second for this, at my volunteer place we just obtained 30 bags of topsoil destined for a skip due to building works. Needed bagging & moving of course but that comes with "free"

DiggerUK

dllive said:

DiggerUK said:

Make sure it's well rotted manure, main problem is slugs. Break it up and spread it over the bed first, rake over daily, the birds will have the slugs. If still a problem when planted sprinkle slug pellets.
Whats the soil already there like. If it is compact dig it over, maybe add a bag of sharp sand. Add your compost at planting time.

.... How do I know its well rotted manure? It has lots of worms in, but theres also traces of straw. Its certainly not fresh manure. Ive heard fresh manure is not good for plants.
- There is no top soil.... All I have is clay, and then subsoil under that.....

Well rotted manure has very few worms and looks like compost from a bag with no smell. Go to somebody with horses or stables and ask if you can have some of their muck pile, they can tell you were the old stuff is.

Now you need to be introduced to the world of 'skipdiving'. These are treasure troves. Get some plasterboard, same size as your plot, score it with  a Stanley knife in to chess board sized squares on both sides, crack it up  and dig it into what soil you have there, at least 30cm/1foot deep. Or you can simply buy some Claybreaker..._

dllive

Now you need to be introduced to the world of 'skipdiving'. These are treasure troves. Get some plasterboard, same size as your plot, score it with  a Stanley knife in to chess board sized squares on both sides, crack it up  and dig it into what soil you have there, at least 30cm/1foot deep. Or you can simply buy some Claybreaker..._

Very interesting! Why does this benefit the soil?
I have some lime wash left over from years ago. Last week I heard that you can add lime wash to the soil to (obviously) make it more alkaline.

Today I made my first veg bed!! I thought Id share it with you. I managed to get some top soil and I dug it into the manure. Its spurred me on to make my own veg beds next week!!

twopenny

Recently starting a new garden I made enquiries about top soil.

The local builders merchant was the cheapest but not steralised so you may get weeds, you may not.

I would think that some topsoil mixed in would be good but I also visited a garden of an older gent, gardening all his life, made a raised bed because he couldn't bend and filled it with the compost you get from recycling centres. He was growing all sorts sucessfully. I will use the cheap tomato grow bags to condition the soil. With the manure you have that's a possibility to help fill it.

More compost than manure I'd say but make it firm before planting. Hands, feet whatever. Save the manure for the winter to put in.

As for plants, whatever you can get that looks healthy. I recently bought really sturdy big tomato plants from a roadside stall. There are some good bean plants around too. Try a few things and see what does well.

joannaber

that looks good! good luck