Soil that s loose and rich with nutrients and organic matter will allow the roots of your plants to grow freely and ensure that they have access to the.
Filling raised garden beds with soil.
You should use native soil from your yard if possible since this will be best for your plants.
As you can see in the picture above for my 4 x4 bed that is 6 deep i will need 8 cubic feet of soil.
Your plants will starve.
So lets talk about how to fill a raised garden bed while saving money and soil.
There is a bonus to this because the items you use in the bottom will eventually turn into amazingly mulched compost that will feed your raised garden beds for years.
Unbordered raised beds in a community garden plot.
As i think we have already established soil health and quality is everything when it comes to a bountiful healthy productive garden so we don t mess around here using a combination of quality organic soil compost and an aeration addition will create the.
To fill a raised garden bed you ll need enough soil to fill the bed and some organic compost.
In my example shown below i am calculating a 4 x4 or 48 x48 raised bed that is 6 deep.
The number below that cubic yards is usually beneficial for filling larger beds and for buying soil for bulk delivery.
Raised beds give you an immediate advantage over a regular garden because when you fill your raised bed you can fill it with a blend of soil that s superior to the native soil in your yard.
This raised bed is almost 6 inches above grade and was filled with existing soil and compost.
It s a big no no my friend.
6 cheap ways to fill raised beds.
To sum it all up the list below are how you can fill your raised beds efficiently and cheaply.
The goal is always to fill raised beds with good soil.
The perfect raised bed soil what kind of soil do you fill your raised garden beds with i get asked this question all.
Scenario 4 if your raised bed is on a non permeable surface.
Your soil will drain too quickly washing away water and nutrients.
If you ve filled your raised garden bed with only potting soil or compost the following things will occur.
If you can t use native soil purchase a nutrient rich mixture from your local gardening store.
The biggest mistake is when you fill your raised garden boxes with only potting soil or compost.
So now we.
The most popular way to fill a raised garden bed is to layer it with a combination of soil organic materials including hay compost and manure.