My raised beds

[Cassandra]

I am about to get some lumber to make some raised beds. I am so EXCITED! (squeal)

I'm starting off with four 3'x3' beds. (I'm having bad knee problems and will be doing my gardening sitting down on the ground or standing up, so I want a bed size that I can easily reach across.)

I have just recently begun a compost pile and it is not ready. Tell me the name of the stuff I can buy to fill the beds with, please?

Thanks,
Cassandra

 

[PennyinOk]

Good luck with your raised beds. P don't know the names of the stuff to fill the beds but I bet someone will tell you soon.

Penny

 

[Buff Shallots]

Cassandra, I have raised beds too. It is so nice to have a perfectly set-aside place to grow things.

We filled ours with a mix of elements. Bags of regular top soil, bags of peat moss, and bags of cow manure. Also, any commercial compost you can get your hands on until yours is ready in a few months.

Have fun. You're going to have a great garden this summer!

 

[pjkobulnicky]

Cassandra ... if you want to do it the easy way, most lawn and garden centers sell a top-soil / compost / manure mix that they will deliver in bulk (in a dump truck). It is sold by the cubic yard. So, if your beds are 1 foot deep, three beds of your size (3 times 3 times 1 times 3 beds equals 27 cubic feet which is one cubic yard) . It is much cheaper than bags from (ugh) Wall Mart but 1 cubic yard is kinda small for a delivery and you WILL pay a delivery fee which argues for as much as possible for that single delivery fee.

Paul

 

[patandchickens]

Triple-mix is usually better than straight topsoil and cheaper than buying the components separately and mixing yourself. (I dunno whether the term triple-mix is universal, but if you describe whatcha want you'll be fine). Some peoples' triple mix is topsoil-compost-sand, others is topsoil-compost-peat or topsoil-peat-sand, it does not make a huge difference IMO.

Bulk delivery is usually a lot cheaper than buying a gazillion bags, as long as you can absorb at least a cubic yard or whartever their minimum is. A cubic yard is an awful lot when you're wheelbarrowing it around but not really much at all when you look at how mcuh garden it fills <vbg> (Calculate how much you need. A cubic yard will fill a 3'x9' bed about a foot deep before it settles down, which it will do over time.)

Pat